Doc

I was in NYC the other day and Manhatten Mercedes which I believe is a factory owned store was unloading several new E and C classes near the convention center. I noticed that all 5 new C240s there were assembled in brazil.


I didnt know that they imported C classes from brazil for the usa market.

hokusbenz

some are made there yes- but i would never never never never never buy one that was- why risk it? i want a german car that was built in germany- we have enough problems to worry about as MB owners why throw that into the mix?

donaldcasey@msn

assuming that some c240's are being made in brazil, can a buyer, if ordering thru production rather than picking up off the lot, prevent that ? a very scary prospect indeed.

Matt230K

They are only being assembled in Brazil, as far as I know. All the parts come from Germany. And I don't think that you can choose where your car is built. Also, I have never noticed any differences or problems between cars from the two assembly plants.

hokusbenz

i was told right away when i ordered the car that it was coming from germany. if they tried to give me one from brazil i would go straight to another dealer.

Matt230K

Well, if you're talking about your coupe, they are all made in Germany. It is only the C240 that is assembled in Brazil.

Buellwinkle

I've cheked once and they had about 20 C240 and only 2 where from Brazil. I don't think it's that common so I wouldn't worry about it. If you want to be 100% sure ask for European delivery and pick it up in Stuttgart yourself.

Matt230K

Maybe they'll have South American delivery now, if you want to go there instead!!

Apollo

Hi

I picked my car up from Bremen in Germany, but my car was assembled in South Africa as with all C Class saloon diesels. Saloons and estate petrol are made in Bremen Germany. This was my concern being built in S Africa, but apparently the build quality is as good if not better.

Lynn

All right hand drive C sedans are built in South Africa, regardless of engine type. Some C240's are built in Brazil. All other C's, except C32's, are built at Sindelfingen.

Apollo

Hi

I have just been around the Bremen Factory 6 weeks ago and watched the C Class saloon and estate (wagon) being built.

viper

This could change of course. But I hope not.

Matt230K

Where are C32's built?

Mike T.

A:

Burkina Faso

Matt230K

where's that?

Mike T.

...but I was just kidding!

They're made not far (26 miles) from Stuttgart.

Lynn

I have never seen a C-class that was not built in Sindelfingen. Maybe the Bremen cars are not exported to the US.

Doc

my car according to its papers was from bremen.

I purchased it oct of last year


2002 C320

jelecroy

The last letter in the VIN (just before the 6 digit serial number) indicates build location.
A-E are Sindelfingen
F-H = Bremen
J - Rastatt
T- Karman/Osnabreuck
X - Graz

I picked up my 2001 C240 at the factory in Sindelfingen, and saw some C-class cars being built there during a factory tour, but the one I got was built in Bremen. Had 11 miles on the OD at delivery - is that two laps around the test track?

Apollo

My car says "built in South Africa" on the plate with the chasis number on. Is this not shown with cars outside UK. Maybe they have to show this by UK law.

Mike T.

Every C I've seen has the country of manufacture in the driver's (LF) door jamb (on the B pillar). Every C I've seen in Canada says Made in Germany there and our sales guy insists that no Brazilian Cs are sold in Canada. The South African cars apparently are all RHD so we don't see these here.

jrct9454

Periodically, this topic seems to surface at every online MB forum I read. All of the facts are present in the many posts here, just not all in one place.

For USA customers, C sedans can come from Bremen, Rastatt, Sindelfingen, or the Brazilian plant, which builds them from so-called knock-down kits. Notwithstanding the usual urban legends, the various plants grade similarly for quality, so all the hand-wringing over the possibility of getting a car from the latter is misplaced.

And yes, if you buy a right-hand-drive C, it will have come from the South African plant. Right now, I think they are sourcing all RHD Cs for all worldwide markets. And again, there are no quality issues here that don't exist at all of the plants.

That last point is the key one: ASSEMBLY QUALITY, per se, is easy to control and is almost never the issue in customer problems these days. Defects are most often associated with supplier and system problems, which are shared everywhere a particular part or subsystem is used. To the extent MB has quality issues with the W203, they are usually traceable right back to their EU suppliers [who also have plants located all over the map], not to the folks who screw them together.

BMW also sources 3ers from South Africa for the North American market - word among insiders is that that plant actually grades higher than the ones in Germany. That doesn't stop a certain number of buyers from having fainting spells when confronted with one of these cars at a dealership...oh well...

Our January '02 C240 was built in Bremen, incidentally.