Influx

Mercedes-Benz is set to open a Classic Center in Irvine, California where customers will be able to buy classic Mercedes and owners will be able to find parts and get access to restoration services. Mercedes defines “a classic” as a car 20 years old and older.

It’s an interesting to think of a brand placing value in its past, not just for communication, as Mercedes has done in the past, but to build a viable retail-based business.

Obviously other automakers could follow Mercedes lead- especially BMW, Ferrari, Bentley, etc. Looking across other categories, Influx had some candidates; Nintendo (given the popularity of its old game units), Levi’s (there is a huge market in vintage jeans), Nike (already a big market on E-Bay and in Japan for vintage shoes), perhaps even Apple could be bold enough to celebrate its past, despite its on-going push to next generation products.

Are we missing anyone?