Have you ever heard of Benz-onomics?

Have you ever heard of Benz-onomics? No? It's the theory that technology developed for luxury automobiles (like Mercedes-Benz) will, if enough people buy the new tech, trickle down to the mass-market grocery-runner type vehicles (such as Volkswagen and Chevy).

Benz-onomics as a catchy title has only been around since I wrote it this morning over breakfast. But the idea is decades old. Indeed, based on the past 125 years or so, it is pretty clear that most of the cool stuff we see debut on luxury cars does eventually make its way down the automotive food chain into cars and trucks with less prestigious pedigrees.

The reason for the top-down tech rollout is that fancy automobiles are always rolling testbeds for new technology. Fat-walleted customers demand the latest and greatest tech features, and carmakers try to meet those demands by innovating on seemingly every front. The result? Lots of head-smacking, what-will-they-think-of-next technology that gives the buyer a s sense of being special, and can, when it is really well thought-out, make life on the road safer, more exciting, and/or more comfortable for those who can afford the cars it's found in.

In some cases, it doesn't take long for tech to trickle down. For example, when the Mini Cooper was reintroduced to the world in 2002, it offered nearly every feature--at least as options--that came standard on the BMW 7-Series of the time (BMW owns MINI).

Oh, and for the record, technology also trickles up in some cases, and you'll find we've provided a couple of examples of that, too.