U.S. Grey Market
The 500 SEL has an interesting place in U.S. automotive history, since American demand for this particular car drove the establishment of a large grey market. The detuned, yet very expensive US specification 380 SE/SEL/SEC was underpowered, according to contemporary reports, and fuelled demand for the more powerful version available in the rest of the world. Approximately 22,000 units per year of grey market Mercedes-Benz (including the 500 SE/SEL) were sold in the early 1980s, according to contemporary reports in the Los Angeles Times.
Read more about this topic: Mercedes-Benz W126
Famous quotes containing the words grey and/or market:
“Of an old King in a story
From the grey sea-folk I have heard,
Whose heart was no more broken
Than the wings of a bird.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“A sentimentalist, my dear Darlington, is a man who sees an absurd value in everything, and doesn’t know the market price of any single thing.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)