We should bombard the top people(nissan mercedes) and let it trickle down. Email/phone both companies saying "i was in the market for(nissan or mercedes car/truck), and after hearing about this i would like to take my business to another manufacturer that doesn't exploit its customers for publicity." in a worldwide recession like this it will get noticed sooner or later when sales have been "lost"
I kept seeing this mentioned time and time again. I can partially speak regarding Mercedes, as my husband works for their US corporate headquarters in the Customer Assistance Center. Ultimately, the dealership is independently owned and operated, and MBUSA has little control over their operation. Sure, they can stop giving cars to that dealer, but that doesn't mean they won't still sell used cars from auction or trade ins, so they may still have Mercedes in their dealer name. But my understanding is that, the reaction you will get from calling/emailing MBUSA is "we will document your concerns and contact the dealer." But I'm not sure what much would come from that. Sure, you could "take your business elsewhere," but while economy car manufacturers are hurting tremendously in the US, MBUSA is not hurting nearly as much - sure, they didn't make record sales last year like they had the last 14 years running, but they were down only about 2% or so.
Point being, you can attempt to call and email, but don't expect results from just that. The best bet for any type of reaction is to go to the local media - the consumer advocate in the area, the "Help Me" person on the local news stations, letters to the editors, etc etc., and then broaden it to the larger media if necessary.
I'm not sure what the reaction would be from Nissan, given they are probably hurting a lot more than MBUSA. But my guess is you would get the same reaction, that the dealers are independently owned and operated.