Agreed. I think there were quite a few positive suggestions hiding in there too.
People still buy Mercs, even if their quality wasn't up to much for nearly a decade. As soon as it improved, the reputation came back. The same with Land Rover - they weren't worth shit during the British Leyland times, and the pre-leyland ones went up in value. The reputation revived after Leyland went down the tube, although what they will be like under Tata I don't know