U.S. audiences perceive the Mercedes-Benz brand in particular differently from German audiences. The company makes an effort to tailor its marketing message around these different perceptions. With respect to distribution, the systems in the two countries are different, so there are naturally going to be differences. Those differences should be less today than would have been historically the case, since the Daimler-Chrysler merger made Mercedes a de facto domestic brand in each country, in terms of distribution access. For some products, however, there are no significant differences between the marketing campaigns in Germany and the U.S. For high end products like the SLS AMG, the company's marketing campaign is more global in nature. Consumers of high-end performance Mercedes', however, are more likely to purchase based on the product itself and not just the name and a set of assumptions.

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For Mercedes-Benz, this means playing on the reputation that German engineering has among American consumers, while omitting such messages when promoting in the domestic market. Germans are not interested in hearing about German engineering, so the company focuses on other factors that may influence the purchasing decision when marketing domestically.
Works Cited:

Eisenstein, P. (2011). Why Daimler dumped Penske over Smart. The Detroit Bureau. Retrieved October 2, 2011 from http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2011/02/why-daimler-dumped-penske-over-smart/

Jost, I. (2005). Made in Germany: Does "Teutonic" sell in America? The Atlantic Times. Retrieved October 2, 2011 from http://www.atlantic-times.com/archive_detail.php?recordID=116