The company started using the slogan in the United States in 1973, was widely adopted in other markets thereafter, and quickly became synonymous with the marque. But, crucially, at a time when many competitor cars were designed for comfort, BMWs largely delivered on the promise. 'The Ultimate Driving Machine' was the result – it simply conveyed its message without ambiguity. Disappointed with its underwhelming US slogan at the time - ' The Sportsman’s Car' - he wanted a better way to establish the brand in the minds of the US consumer, and worked with advertising agency Ammirati & Puris to decide on a new slogan to establish BMW cars as the keen driver’s choice. But as BMW wanted to better establish itself in the American market, he proved an inspired choice. In the early ‘70s Bob Lutz became head of sales and marketing for BMW at the time it was very unusual for a German car company to have a foreigner - in this case an American - in such a senior role. Its slogan today? Well, it mainly relies on the famous three-pointed star that’s been its logo for over 100 years, perhaps deeming it worth a thousand words. The brand has largely recovered from that period now and is once again the leading German luxury car maker in terms of sales. Then, distracted by the Chrysler merger, the opening of production in the United States, and the conscious effort to remove the level of over-engineering in an average Mercedes, we saw the emergence of materials that seem to have been built to a budget, not a standard, which impacted the brand’s reputation for a time. Indeed, it is said that it so startled Mercedes it delayed the W140 to make added refinements to head off the unexpected challenger. Perhaps it also thought that, with the arrival of a fearsome new competitor from Japan, it was no longer strictly speaking correct: Less attractive and without the badge appeal of the Mercedes, the Lexus LS 400 of 1989 nonetheless featured amazing refinement, and bullet-proof reliability carried across from its parent Toyota. Perhaps Mercedes thought that, after 40 years, it had had its day. So Mercedes left it unchanged until the ‘90s, where it was used to once again underscore the marketing message behind the 1992 S-Class W140 (right), arguably the most masterfully over-engineered Benz ever made.ĭuring the mid 1990s the slogan that had served the company well was quietly dropped. At a time when overall car reliability was very low compared to the cars of today, Mercedes cars did seem to be made that much better and proved more dependable. It was simple, effective and frankly factual. The slogan would go on to be used for decades in most of the world, including the UK and America. Not only did it have the cars, but it had a single slogan to cover the whole range for the first time as it eyed English-speaking export markets: ' Engineered like no other car in the world'. And with the 190 SL and 300 SL, it had two glamorous models with which to mark the occasion. Mercedes-Benz: Engineered like no other car in the worldĭuring the Second World War the factories of Daimler-Benz were heavily bombed, but by the mid-‘50s the company was getting back on its feet.