Mercedes takes a leaf out of BMW’s strategy book

After the disastrous turn of events surrounding the troubled merger between Daimler and Chrysler and the subsequent split last week, the German division won’t be attempting any more tie-ups in the future and will reportedly go-it-alone from now on.

Following the strategy of BMW, which learned the same lesson after its own bungle with MG-Rover, Daimler boss Dieter Zetsche has told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag that “there are no acquisition targets I can recognize that could strengthen Mercedes”.

Zetsche believes that Daimler will be better off being independent and sees little hope in attempting to diversify risks by expanding its brand portfolio with other makes in the foreseeable future. "We are at the top of the industry with the Mercedes car brand and any integration of another brand would tend to drag us down,” he explained.

It was obvious that Chrysler was hurting Mercedes’ image, which has also seen quality slide substantially over the past decade, but the announcement of the Chrysler spin-off is already showing positive results in the eyes of investors and customers alike.