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	<title>Comments on: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer: The BMW and Mercedes-Benz alliance</title>
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	<link>http://www.bmwblog.com/2009/07/29/keep-your-friends-close-and-your-enemies-closer-the-bmw-and-mercedes-benz-alliance/</link>
	<description>BMW News, Reviews, Test Drives, Photos And Videos</description>
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		<title>By: in2dwww</title>
		<link>http://www.bmwblog.com/2009/07/29/keep-your-friends-close-and-your-enemies-closer-the-bmw-and-mercedes-benz-alliance/#comment-214543</link>
		<dc:creator>in2dwww</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Apr 2010 11:00:22 +0000</pubDate>
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		<description>By minimizing the difference between brands, the purchaser has less knowledge of the beast.  It would all come down to 2 camps: 1) performance figures, 2) cost.  Some may even add a third segment: luxury.  But these days, luxury is not a luxury anymore, unless you want a W140 S-class or a Bentley Musslane (sp?).  Mercedes is already sharing platforms with Infinity, and it makes me wonder what else MB has to share...  MB owns many patents, so that&#039;s understandable to &quot;share&quot; technology under license.  But BMW, in its own right, can&#039;t patent &quot;spirit&quot; and &quot;balance&quot; just as much as MB can&#039;t patent &quot;refinement.&quot;  Well have to wait and see, I&#039;m afraid.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>By minimizing the difference between brands, the purchaser has less knowledge of the beast.  It would all come down to 2 camps: 1) performance figures, 2) cost.  Some may even add a third segment: luxury.  But these days, luxury is not a luxury anymore, unless you want a W140 S-class or a Bentley Musslane (sp?).  Mercedes is already sharing platforms with Infinity, and it makes me wonder what else MB has to share&#8230;  MB owns many patents, so that&#8217;s understandable to &#8220;share&#8221; technology under license.  But BMW, in its own right, can&#8217;t patent &#8220;spirit&#8221; and &#8220;balance&#8221; just as much as MB can&#8217;t patent &#8220;refinement.&#8221;  Well have to wait and see, I&#8217;m afraid.</p>
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		<title>By: xmax</title>
		<link>http://www.bmwblog.com/2009/07/29/keep-your-friends-close-and-your-enemies-closer-the-bmw-and-mercedes-benz-alliance/#comment-139787</link>
		<dc:creator>xmax</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:31:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bmwblog.com/?p=17761#comment-139787</guid>
		<description> Although an average buyer would hardly pay attention to that detail, every aware, experienced and demanding customer will know how to appreciate the difference 

We all want to feel part of smth special but to suggest that an independent brand is inherently superior or is chosen by &#039;every aware, experienced and demanding customer&#039; over one which is part of a larger company is misguided. Most differences come down to brand philosophy (eg focus on performance or comfort) and buyer preference (not education or awareness), and all major brands have dedicated fan base who know a lot more more than the average buyer and still stick with their brand. I am a fan of and personally owned bimmers and lexuses, loved both but obviously for very different reasons. 

And  in most cases, offers inferior technology and less prestige ? Are there any examples or studies in recent years to support such this claim?</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Although an average buyer would hardly pay attention to that detail, every aware, experienced and demanding customer will know how to appreciate the difference </p>
<p>We all want to feel part of smth special but to suggest that an independent brand is inherently superior or is chosen by &#8216;every aware, experienced and demanding customer&#8217; over one which is part of a larger company is misguided. Most differences come down to brand philosophy (eg focus on performance or comfort) and buyer preference (not education or awareness), and all major brands have dedicated fan base who know a lot more more than the average buyer and still stick with their brand. I am a fan of and personally owned bimmers and lexuses, loved both but obviously for very different reasons. </p>
<p>And  in most cases, offers inferior technology and less prestige ? Are there any examples or studies in recent years to support such this claim?</p>
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		<title>By: Bobo</title>
		<link>http://www.bmwblog.com/2009/07/29/keep-your-friends-close-and-your-enemies-closer-the-bmw-and-mercedes-benz-alliance/#comment-139644</link>
		<dc:creator>Bobo</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:55:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bmwblog.com/?p=17761#comment-139644</guid>
		<description>The last sentence of the article is SO TRUE!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The last sentence of the article is SO TRUE!</p>
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		<title>By: Hero Sina</title>
		<link>http://www.bmwblog.com/2009/07/29/keep-your-friends-close-and-your-enemies-closer-the-bmw-and-mercedes-benz-alliance/#comment-139121</link>
		<dc:creator>Hero Sina</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:16:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bmwblog.com/?p=17761#comment-139121</guid>
		<description>Maybe we will see A MBW</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Maybe we will see A MBW</p>
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		<title>By: Victor</title>
		<link>http://www.bmwblog.com/2009/07/29/keep-your-friends-close-and-your-enemies-closer-the-bmw-and-mercedes-benz-alliance/#comment-139096</link>
		<dc:creator>Victor</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:02:53 +0000</pubDate>
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		<description>will see what happen :)</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>will see what happen :)</p>
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