(ORDO NEWS) — In Albania, “Mercedes” on the streets come across much more often than in the Emirates or Germany.
How did it happen that one of the poorest countries in Europe became the leader in the popularity of this luxury brand?
Albania is one of the poorest countries in Europe. But it breaks records for the penetration of the luxury Mercedes-Benz brand.
Every third car in this country carries a three-pointed star on the hood. More precisely, he once carried it, because many of the local Mercs have a shabby look and often the logo from the hood is lost. And in total, 212,000 cars of this brand are registered in a small Balkan state.
The lion’s share of them were brought into the country from Germany with mileage, most of them are over 10 years old at the time of import.
For an Albanian, such a machine is a jackpot and the best possible deal.
Even a sedan or station wagon that has been seriously driven along the German autobahns retains a solid residual margin of safety, surpasses new cars of budget brands in comfort, and costs less.
This is what real reputation looks like
Objectively speaking, Mercedes-Benz cars are no better and no worse than the same BMW, Audi or British Jaguar.
Between these three brands, parity has been maintained for many years – either one will slightly break ahead in popularity, then the other.
But Albanians are an exceptional case. Residents are looking for the most reliable used cars, and the reputation of the Stuttgart brand is unshakable here thanks to the legendary ultra-reliable Mercedes produced until the late 1990s, such as the E-Class of the W124 generation.
A million is just the beginning
DW REV – Cars & Mobility interviewed a typical Albanian taxi driver, Luan Nina, who owns a yellow W124 diesel sedan.
The machine was released in 1993 and, despite this, has retained a good condition. Nina bought it 15 years ago with about 600,000 miles on it and has driven a million more since then.
For all the time, the repair of the motor was required only once!
Now the driver is 70 years old, he looks good and assures that he is not going to retire or change his car. So it is possible that he will master two million kilometers.
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