ismeto

hehehe

Who buys Mercedes from Brazil?


2007 begins

here is the translation link from German by GOOGLE

http://translate.google.com/translat...language_tools

ismeto

I love my Coupe now more from yesterday

its ' Made in Germany '

Buellwinkle

Many U.S. C240 cars were made in Brazil. I like the Brazilians even if they don't speak spanish. Any country that can design thong bikinis like that can certainly assemble MBs, afterall, they make a lot of MBs in Alabama and they have no lineage to the bikini.

tifosiv122

Anything is better then being built in Alabama.

Love that quality of the ML class.

Erik

Outland

Much of that 'quality' you speak of was designed in...its hard to fault the folks who screw them together for crappy design, and ****ty reliability. I tell you honestly, aside from missing components, loose or poor assembly, and scratches, there isn't much people on the assembly line can do to screw it up. And even then, things like the torque output of the guns that bolt stuff down is computer controlled, and quite accurate. Vision systems verify correct assembly, and pick to light systems verify the correct components were put in.

Outland

Intersting news. Confirms that the Coupe did indeed survive, but is based on the CL203, instead of the upcoming W204. Fine by me...W204 is butt ugly Japanese looking anyway.

However...moving it to an A Class variant in the future is just stupid. What set the car apart was the RWD. Make it FWD, and its just another poser coupe like all the Japanese hatchback coupes.

tifosiv122

You would think so, but obviously it is possible. How else could one explain the poor ML and X5 and they are both built in the US? I saw US factory workers, I nearly had a heart attack. One was reading a newspaper while assembling the car, another reading a book, most were listening to music and or drinking a beverage. This is all while the line moved. I saw dozens of cars sitting in the failed inspection area getting ready to be put back into assembly to fix the problems...who knows how many cars passed inspection and were still assembled poorly.

Somehow I don't think this goes on in German or Jap. plants which is why I think cars assembled in the US have such a poor reliability reputation. When something breaks and someone says what do you expect, made in the US (or China) it's not a joke or something that developed overnight, it's years of making crappy products. And it still holds true.

Erik

pshek

Yup, the coupe is stil being produced in other countries. Not only that but they also get the newer Evolution S model of the sports coupe. I wanna retrofit gearshift paddles to my coupe and ditch touchshift.

Posted by www.eMercedesBenz.com on May 23, 2006
"If you currently reside in the UK and have been deliberating what
Mercedes C-Class Sport Coupe variant to purchase, your choice just
became a little more difficult. That's because Mercedes has
announced today the addition of a limited edition sport package for
the C-Class, titled the "Evolution S."

Available on either the petrol-powered C180 Kompressor or the diesel-
powered C220 CDI, pricing for the two Evolution S models is set at
£19,995 and £22,295, respectively. Included in the price is an
Evolution AMG Sports package, 17" five-spoke alloy wheels, a leather-
trimmed sport steering wheel, stainless steel exhaust tailpipe and
STEERING WHEEL GEARSHIFT PADDLES. Other highlights include Bi-xenon
headlamps, Evolution S badges and a six-disc CD changer.

According to Mercedes-Benz's Managing Director Dermot Kelly: "The
Sports Coupé line represents terrific value for money and is priced
very competitively. The car’s dynamic good looks have always
appealed to our more youthful customers and this special edition is
another good reason to include it on the shopping list whether you
are a private buyer or fleet customer."

If you're interested, the Evolution S is available for order
immediately in your choice of two paint colors - Obsidian Black or
Iridium Silver - with other colors available at extra charge.

To learn more, head over to Mercedes-Benz.co.uk."

Rick

So Daimler-Chrysler is finally taking the Ford/GM strategy and cutting production costs by using cheaper labor? Is that a crime? Hm...not really, unless quality continues to suffer.

Granted, as MBUSA has stated in past PR - "Quality" is often based on the expectations from a premium brand. That may be partly correct, but I still haveissue with paying top dollar and having the customer support force diminish MY expectations. However, if Consumer Reports and car mags are reporting quality issues across the boards and Chrysler 300's and Dodge Chargers are now getting better ratings than our beloved Benz's(!) - it's time to ship the people at MBUSA some Starbuck's gift cards so they can at least wake up and smell it. Obviously, this is more than just a psychological concern of price point vs. expectation, and something that should be researched to save face for the marque - the ENTIRE marque.

Quality improvements in one division at the expense of another is not acceptable practice. (Imagine the Rolls-Royce or Lamborghini owner being told "Well, just think how many problems you'd have if you bought a Golf.")

If the C350 coupe proves of lesser quality or ultimately not imported to the US, I'll likely buy another brand to replace mine. I'm already looking at others for my aging E class, but with recent work done during it's extended warranty - it's finally a wonderful car. So I may keep them....for now.

Outland

Doesn't really sound too different from what goes on at anyone else's job, now does it? Its pretty simple work. My line of work has put me thru dozens of plants, some auto, some not, some japanese, some domestic....what goes on is all the same. Where the Japanese really excel is process...they error proof the **** out of the process, and they don't go into production unless they have the bugs out. Beyond that, its design- or the quality of the componentry.

Its been my experience that when things are assembled poorly, its because they fit poorly...not because the assembly line guy was listening to music. Find something that fits poorly on your car, or someone elses...and try to fix it. Most of the time, it fits that way, because it was manufactured that way...and the way its bolted in doesn't matter much.

Ha! The german plants have got it better than anyone else. Short work weeks, lots breaks, and everyone is eating. The german transplants ran into trouble because the guy who designed the **** that didn't work right, or the company that poorly manufactured the component was 2500 miles away.

The failures you see in the field...most of them are identified in the failure mode analysis before the cars are even built. THen the politics take over...the buyers and purchasing people blow smoke, the design guys hope no one asks them another question, the testing guys stop returning phone calls, the manufacturing guys sink low in there chairs so no one calls on them, the worker or union rep makes untimely complaints about safety, and management talks out of its *** about how we're not seeing this in the field. What field?...youre not producing this yet! And that problem that's about to **** you off in 2 or three years was just born.

At companies like ford, its culture rot. GM is lot better manufacturing wise...its design folks that needed the shake up.

The Japanese can make crap just as good as the other guys...they are just better at hiding it...just ask those Toyota execs in jail right now...

Tangerine

i'd still prefer my german car designed/made/built in germany and my japanese car designed/made/built in japan. will it make a difference if it was from someplace else? perhaps not but i would want that piece of mind.

ismeto

not only your mind Man

here is the examle ;

Toyota Coroola is producted also Turkey and two car compared Japan and Turkey . and in some part for example less part from Japan . answer from Turkish ; We think it is enouhg.

maybe is joke maybe fiction maybe true... Who knows?

maybe you are right Man ... only in our minds.

ayilar

http://www.channel4.com/4car/news/ne...?news_id=14928

MBNorCal

someone needs to translate this thread!

vraa

The proof is in the pudding.

Why do the Japanese practice Kaizen.
Why do the American copy it and the butcher it turning it into Six Sigma?

I hope you guys are thinking about joining the MBworld Folding@Home team. Install a program on your computer that runs in the background and you're on your way to helping find the cure for cancer!

C230 Sport Coup

Badges? Badges!? We don't need no stinking badges!
Ok, I do want the Evolution badges, but couldn't find a pic on the site.
Any Brits out there want to snap a pic, and get a PN?
I want Badges!!

Paddle shifters?
Hmmmmm
Well if it was the Sequetronic it would be cool.
(Self clutching manual that requires a click or flick of the shifter, but no clutch, sadly not in the US!)

Outland

Kaizen....which pill did you swallow, red or blue? Google a guy named Demming...

whynot

"tifosiv122 - Anything is better then being built in Alabama"
The US factory workers you saw reading a newspaper, listening to music, ect. were not building the ML.

Outland you are right on the money

As far as Kaizen and Six Sigma, Kaizen (continuous improvement) is praticed daily at MBUSI. Six Sigma methodology (Problem = Customer desire - Current state) is the way the market is mislead to understand lean manufacturing and quality control, mainly due to the fact that Consumer Reports and other car mags are reporting quality issues. This, most of the time, leads the consumer to believe there is no quality at the process and that the process needs to be "fixed" when in fact the process could be changed a million times and the part being installed is still unchanged.

Outland

All the buzzwords suck. Most companies just gravitate from the last great thing, to the next one. I once had a boss that was convinced that 5S was going to save the company millions...and that it started at my desk- everything had to back in the same place, everything putaway, AND LABELED.

I started locking my office door when I wasn't around. Solved that problem without any buzzwords.

Kaizen...yeah, that's still making me chuckle.

Why worry a damn about quality, at say FORD, when your own ****ing management paid the FNG Mullaly 26.8MILLION for 3 months worth of work, yet the company hemoraged 12.1 BILLION, YES, BILLION during the same period. Ask one of the Japanese or German CEO's what they made during those same 3 months....

benzmodz

Sometimes money changes hands in payment of old debts. Not everything that looks absurd on paper is in fact what it appears to be. You may find that massive payments sometimes end up as political donations.

whynot

No matter what you thank about the "buzzwords" 5S does save money. Depends on the company as to how much money it saves. When things are foot printed and labeled one can see if the item is missing and where it is to be returned. It standardizes conditions and allows people to efficiently work in different locations.
4500 employees @ $30/hour each spend 1 minute a day trying to find something at work.
4500mins a day = 75hours a day @ $30 a hour =
$2,250 a day wasted
$562,500 a year wasted (@250 working days)
$5,625,000 wasted in 10 years
And so-on, so yes 5S will save money and many companies chuckle at Kaizen and go out of business because their broke when they could have spent a little money on floor tape and labels and saved millions of money.

Tree

No; that's not the problem. First of all, Ford's plan to reach profitability by 2009 is on track, according to the Ford management team and board of directors. Mullaly is a skilled CEO, and Ford should be willing to pay whatever it costs to get someone to turn them around (EVEN if it is a whopping 2 tenths of a percent of what they lost during that year. ) If Ford with Mullaly regains profitability by 2009, whereas they could not with William Clay Ford Jr., then who cares how much Mullaly was paid?

All these people griping about CEO and top executive pay (Who's that lady. . .from either the WSJ or the New York Times. . . who always complains about CEO pay in her column? I hate that woman) are missing the point. They always complain about outrageous executive compensation, but it isn't compensation; in most cases it's severance pay. When Robert Nardelli left GE to become CEO of Home Depot, GE and Home Depot talked to find out how much they thought Nardelli was worth. They drew up the contract and Nardelli signed it, giving him all those benefits and such at the time he was hired. When he resigned and got that $210 million severance package, that wasn't in spite of his lackluster performance, that was because the severance package was signed at the beginning of his employment. Those two things are unrelated. When Mullaly was hired, Ford decided on his salary. You can bet they wish they could've payed him only $1 after seeing Ford lose all that, but they can't because returning Ford to profitability is more important than curbing supposedly rampant executive pay. Do you really think it didn't occur to them that losing $12.1 billion is "bad" and giving $26 million to a guy who probably doesn't need it is also "bad"? Ford might've had the option to make pay on a performance basis, but, I don't know if you know this, but Ford's kind of in a bad way, and they need all the help they can get, and fast.

I'm sorry. This issue really gets me in a tizzee. I just get so pissed off when people complain about things about which they don't understand, especially this woman for that newspaper.

Outland

According to Ford. What did you expect them to say? There's still a little value to the stock...if you come out and say, "Uh well...sales still suck, no one is really hot about the new fairlane, mustang sales are falling, so is the F series, and market share is dropping faster than we care to admit, etc...oh, and BTW, maybe at a time when we look like donkey's to the whole world, paying the Lexus owner at Boeing 26mil was probably not the kind of attention we needed. "

No one is that good. Ford isn't going to get better overnight with this Donkey on board. Hmmm....why do ford products suck? Poor quality? Yes. Poor design? Yes. Cheap interiors. Yes. Hmm...26 Million would go a long way in purchasing some better interior components. How about some modern equipment/software/processes and a bigger budget for the QA boys? Gee, that sounds worthwhile. How about spending that money acquiring some better talent in the styling dept? Yep....also sounds great. Hey, Moral sucks around here. How about not throwing a pile of cash at this guy when were laying off and firing a third of our employees? Gee, that sounds good too.

I'm ALL FOR PAYING THE GUY A GOOD BUCK if he's worth it, but pay needs to be based on performance. Right now, this idiot is in trouble for joking about almost blowing up the prez with a hydrogen car, and his "big" decision to date is to rename the 500 to 'Taurus'. Shareholders need to demand more control over executive compensation.

Outland

A lot of stuff is just common sense. 5S certainly is. Making it into a company wide program, and telling people to do it on there's desk isn't. Over the years I've seen soooooo many companies just throw buzzwords around, knowing just enough about something to get in trouble, but not enough to do any good, or lacking the discipline to keep doing it. It all goes back to Demming. The more buzzwords that you have, the fewer emphasis there is on the process, and that creates more MBO- which is where most of the quality problems start.

Tree

What did I expect them to say? I expect them to be honest, as I expect every public (and private) corporation to be honest. Enron, et cetera are in the vast minority when it comes to telling the truth to your stockholders and Wall Street.
It isn't about "being that good". A CEO making 400 times the salary of a rank and file worker isn't 400 times better than the worker. It's simply economics and supply and demand. That is what the CEO demands and what the company provides, so that is the salary.

I laughed out loud. Ford produced 6.92 million vehicles in 2005. So if Mulally is paid nothing, each Ford would get $3.75 of an upgraded interior. Honey babe, $26 million for a $150 billion/year company is nothing. That's why they can afford to "waste" it on a top executive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford

Blah blah blah. Yes, these are all valid things to do. But how about instead of getting rid of Mullaly, they raise the price of their cars by three dollars and seventy five cents [emphasis added ] to cover the cost of him. Doesn't that make a ton more sense?
38,000 Ford workers left with buyout plans offered by Ford. Assuming those 38,000 workers make, let's say, an average of $50,000 a year (I don't know the figure, but it's around that. It may be higher; they make good money) Ford will save $1.9 billion/year, minus the one time costs of the buyouts. That $26 million is a drop in the $1.9 billion pond.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...611290416/1148

Honey, everybody knows that Ford is in a very seriously bad way, as are GM and Chrysler. It looks bad because Ford lost $12 billion last year. They are on the upswing, however. The fact that they know that they can't rely on SUVs anymore is itself a "bold move". Popular and well-reviewed cars such as the Edge and Fusion are a first step to returning to profitability in 2009. That means that there will be losses in 2007, 2008, and some of 2009. Losses are not good news, but I am, and everyone should be, concerned with the long term.
Anything but that. If I owned a company, it would only ever be private for that very reason. If Alan Mulally is a very smart man, and let's say he has an IQ of 130, or the 98th percentile (I completely made that up) he is a good man to lead Ford. Shareholders, by virtue of there being tons of them, have an average IQ of 100. I go to high school. My high school of 1600 students has, on average, an IQ of 100. My fellow classmates are idiots. I trust one smart person to lead much more than a bunch of average (stupid) people. You can read on this more if you want, but the larger a group gets, the harder it is for it to understand complex ideas, such as the future. "Shareholders", like "customers", who are also stupid, are mobs that can only be defined by emotion.





I don't actually truly feel that way, but I hope you understand my point. The founding fathers instituted safeguards such as the electoral college, staggered elections, and others to prevent the average person from attaining any political power. The founding fathers were all geniuses, and knew that the average person is a dingbat. Now our average people have high school diplomas, but I have seen these people. I will graduate with them soon and I tell you they are not fit to do anything of worth, because they will screw it up. Too bad for you guys; I'm moving to Fiji.