I hate it when couples break up.  But not this couple…

Daimler wants to sell remaining Chrysler stake to Cerberus

German automaker Daimler has said it wants to sell its remaining 19.9-percent interest in its former US subsidiary Chrysler to private equity firm Cerberus, which last year acquired a majority stake in Chrysler from Daimler.

Yes.  Please.  I remember vividly the sinking feeling I got when I heard the news in 1998 that Daimler was merging with Chrysler.  Ever since I was a teenager I’d dreamed of owning a Mercedes and right around the time of the merger, by equal parts luck and persistence, I’d almost worked my way into a place where I could almost barely afford one.  The dream was almost within my grasp.  And then this. 

I couldn’t think of any American car company I’d have wanted Daimler to join forces with, but out of all of them Chrysler was just about the worst.  My mom’s first car was a 1968 Plymouth Valiant and even though it was a clumsy American mass produced rattle box it was almost as reliable as anything produced by Mercedes.  It couldn’t do the track like a Mercedes, it wasn’t anything as solid, but at least it kept running and running.  That 225 slant six engine is still legendary in some circles to this day.  But mom didn’t take proper care of it, and after it died she suffered through a series of horrible 1970s-1980s Chrysler products that convinced me never to touch a Chrysler product again.  I wouldn’t trust one of their motors any further then I could throw it.

So when I heard Daimler and Chrysler were merging I felt a breath of dread.  And sure enough, the quality of the Mercedes product took a turn for the worse around then.  When I bought the Honda Accord back in 2005, I was in a position to have afforded a C240.  But the C240 back then (the W203 to us Mercedes fanboys) not only seemed to be too little car for the money, compared to the previous model (the W202), it just felt cheap.  I felt cheated.

After years of hearing other Mercedes fans bitterly complaining about the downturn in quality, I was overjoyed to hear that Daimler had finally come to its senses and was dumping Chrysler, and refocusing on product quality.  When I paid off the Accord I took a wander through my local Mercedes dealership and laid eyes on the new C300, and fell back in love.  This October 12th will mark my first year with the car, and I am still in love with it.  It’s the most solid thing on four wheels I’ve ever owned.

When I bought mine, Daimler had just voted to rename the company from Daimler-Chrysler, to just Daimler.  Some of us think they should have returned the name back to Daimler-Benz, but at least the Chrysler part is gone now.  Alas, my car was built before the name change so it still has the Daimler-Chrysler name on the door frame sticker.  But you sit down in it and you know it’s a Mercedes.  It’s not as sumptuous as a Lexus costing about the same.  It’s not as flashy as a Cadillac.  It has its luxury touches but it’s a ‘C’ not an ‘E’, let alone an ‘S’.  This may sound ridiculous to some of you, but It’s basic transportation with a few nice extras.  That’s really all.  I could have bought it without a lot of the nice extras, like the Harmon-Kardon stereo, the Nav system and the wood trim, and still had the most solid thing on four wheels I’d ever owned.  Its soul is in the basics.  But, and here’s the thing, it’s the basics done as well as they can be done.  It gets everything a car needs to be absolutely right. Every luxury touch they add to that, they add such that those fundamental basics stay absolutely right.  It does the city streets very well.  It’s great on the highway.  It can also do the Autobahn.  It was made for the Autobahn.  Driving a car made for the Autobahn is…a whole new experince for me.  Normal has changed.

That’s why I’d dreamed of owning one for so long.  And…why I got so pissed off when they merged with Chrysler.  I walked out on my porch the other evening, and noticed a beautiful brilliant red sunset happening, and so I walked down to the street to watch it for a while.  I stood next to my car and after a moment, gently leaned against the fender.   I’m allowed…it’s my car.  It felt like I was leaning up against a smooth metal brick.  I noticed right away how different it felt.  Unlike every other car I’ve ever owned, there wasn’t the slightest bit of give in the body.  Yet it doesn’t swagger.  It is the exact opposite of Hummer.  The appearance of strength, is not strength.