There is a plan in the works to do just that. Someone posted a story here a week or two ago about Benz moving the C production for the U.S. to Alabama after the GLK goes on sale here. The GLK being a version of the C on steriods it makes since as they share a lot of the same parts, but that plan is just a thought right now and really doesn't make much sense for Benz from a money stand point. The C class is already slowing down in sales and a year or two away from now will be slowing even more, doesn't seem fruitful to put millions of dollars into building onto a plant just to save shipping costs.

 

If your "first Benz" had been an R or an M, what would that mean? And why would building the C [or any other model for that matter] in the US be preferable to South Africa or India or Brazil [yes, there were W203s assembled in Brazil and sold here] or wherever?

It just must be me - I don't get it as an issue. Your "Japanese" Acura, Honda, Toyota are more likely to be made here than there. Should someone buying their "first Japanese car" expect it to come from Japan? Or is it OK for it to be made in Ohio, but not in Canada? Where does this stuff stop?

Incidentally, costs in the US plants vary widely depending on how vertically integrated they are. Honda and Toyota keep their costs lower by making just about everything within truck distance of the assembly plant, including the engines. Up to now, both BMW and Mercedes have been importing a lot of key components for their US plants, especially the powertrains. You'll know they're really serious about US production when either of them breaks ground for an engine plant here. Until then, production here will always be on the margins of their total output.

Success or failure of assembly plants outside the "homeland" [wherever the homeland is, Japan, Germany, Korea] depends entirely on the corporate culture's attitude toward quality control and vendor management.

VW's Penn. plant failed because they were inexcusably careless about picking the local suppliers and watching over the quality of those suppliers' output. The Japanese largely succeed because they are obsessive about this issue. This is what I mean when I talk about corporate "trust" - if you can't trust MB to build it right in South Africa, you can't trust what's coming out of Bremen or Sindelfingen, either. It is what it is.

 

easy jrct you sound like youre ready to explode. you will get no arguement here from about the japanese cars being built outside of japan. the flip side to the coin is how do you compare a japanese auto to a benz? i mean correct me if i am wrong.

this is just my opinion. i have no basis to believe that the SA cars are any less worthy of the Germans. i just feel that if you are paying for the name that it should come from where it originates.

 

No explosions - it's truly that I don't understand the ubiquity of this issue. As I said, it pops up like clockwork every couple of weeks.

I'm an informal student of the business - been a car nut since I was 6, which is a very long time ago, indeed. All I know is that the best in this business have to satisfy their customers and keep them coming back - doing so is a tricky combination of factors, but pricing is fundamental. In just about every industry from here on out, design and manufacturing are going to be geographically separated. Nationalities aren't going to matter much - AS LONG AS THE PRODUCT WORKS AS ADVERTISED. If Mercedes can't make good cars outside of Germany, it is going to be a niche player that the current stockholders won't stand for. I guess we'll see...

As for comparing Japanese cars to Mercedes [or BMW or Audi or Rolls Royce or whatever], the marketplace does it every day, and I've owned multiple examples of all of them. What set the Germans apart [before they became obsessed with track performance] was a magical combination of ride and handling that never forced you to sacrifice one for the other. The ride never beat you up in the name of going around corners faster, whereas the Japanese tended to settle at one extreme of the other - hard ride or lousy cornering. Now, makes like Acura and Lexus [which really means Honda and Toyota] have pretty much closed the gap, and the Germans have been compromising too much lately trying to look good for the magazines and track tests - so everything has to be "sporty". It's hard to describe to a newcomer what Mercedes means to someone who has been watching them for the entire post-WWII period. These guys have some serious engineering tradition, and that's really what you're paying for when you write the check. Otherwise, why not buy Japanese?

 

well i have always owned japanese cars. hondas, acuras etc (theyre the same car i know) but something clicked when i got behind my fathers e 500 4matic. the car just felt better. for a long time i would never even consider MB. i just thought the ones that were affordable lacked the design element that raised my brow. and the ones that turned my head were a little too much to cut a check for. as i said i have no comparisson of SA vs Germany built benzs. i am just basing my judgement off of heritage. and that might be a wrong way to look at it.

believe me i understand all to well about the economics of business. i am no stranger to the underlined meaning of NET PROFIT.

you very well could be right about there being no difference since QC is MB standards. but you have to admit that it is cool to know that the car came from the german plant. i dont know what it is...but just the satisfaction of knowing.

 

go to carfax.com
type in the vin
and check where it was made.

mine is germany too, by the way lol and so is my e lol

 

+1 Besides if you look at the assembly line workers in Germany you won't see Germans.....that type of work is too menial for them.

 

Thats a bit harsh but you are right when you say that about half of the people came from Turkey or what so ever. I worked at the plant in Hamburg
last summer and some of the old guys could barely talk German after being there for 20 years

Anyways, buy a wagon and it will definitly be build in Bremen!

 

Curious, is a MB built in Alabama a German car or an American car? Isnt this much to the same point and arent we only discussing brain comfort?

 

uhear....braincomfort...i never really thought about that. i guess you are right.

 

This doesn't seem to be too accurate. I typed in the VIN of my car which is on it's way to Balto. from SA and Carfax tells me the car's made in Germany. Wonder what Carfax thinks of Alabama built MBs?

I must admit to being surprised when I first saw my VIN. It begins with a W which I always thought indicated West Germany (I'm dating myself) as country of origin. Guess not or not anymore anyway.

 

Me thinks you have never been to a German car plant for a tour, the workers are all highly unionised, get paid a very very very high salary and are pretty much a closed shop for Germans only, you won't find Turks or other minorities working at any of these sites. Jobs are passed on from father to son and the unions also has quite a lot of say on who is hired.

 

you see this is what i am talking about. if this is true...that is what i am paying a premium for! there is some comfort in knowing that work is carried out from generation to generation.

 

Dealer just said that he has two 4matic c-class scheduled for SA build now. Those will be his first 4matic not coming from Germany.

 

I live in Vancouver BC, Canada. and I ordered C350 4matic in sept and due to arrive in early March (VERY SOON). My dealer told me my car is build in Germany.

 

congrats on the ride coming soon. i live in vancouver as well.

on a side note this is for all canadian residents. i noticed that the 18" AMG 5 star twin spokes are now available as a option upgrade. you can check this on line under "exterior packages" the upgrade is 1500 CAD. well worth the price if you ask my opinion.

 

Thanks haha. Can't wait...

Anyway, when I order the car in sept, I couldn't order the AMG 18" cause it is not available for the 4matic version. But the dealer told me that I can order the "Puhala" version. I thought it look really bad and does the dealer. So I decided not to and just have the 17" AMG instead. BUt when I found out that it is offered for the AMG 18" a few weeks ago, I called my dealer and said I want to put that on order. He said "You are too late, your car is already build and it is waiting for shipment right now"... I'm like what the &(#$! he said the only way I can get it is through the parts department at a full price (around $4000CAD without tires I presume). THat was a BLOW to me. I finally decided to just forget about it and probably will get a custom after market rims. Anyone have any other suggestion as to how I could obtain that AMG 18" rims?!

 

Lol ok sorry guys for the off topic!

 

yeah MB burnaby told me the same thing. and to top it off the parts guy was rude! i dont have any suggestions other than for you to make a big stink about it. not quite sure what they will do. i dont understand why it would be hard for the dealer to call the plant and just switch the rims. i am sure that these 18's are quite popular so they should have some ready to go.

 

<<Tex did you ask the dealer where the car would be built or was it just handed to you from the german plant. for some stupid reason i fall under the category of people that thinks the car should come from germany. hey i would never ask a chinese guy to cook me italian food (i can say this since i am chinese)...hahahaha>>

Oh, I dunno. When I was in Munich last we ate at a pretty good chinese restaurant. The food was just about like here in Seattle.

A person gets tired of schnitzel after awhile.

 

I'm guessing its because once the VIN is assigned, it will be associated with the type of wheels on your car...and this will also affect the placards attached to your car with all the tire pressure info wrt to the assigned wheels...hope this make sense... it should be an easy swap...but i was told by my rep to make sure i had everything the way i wanted it at least a week before the production date!

 

oh this is good news! that means that i could possibly still have time. my build date is in march. thanks for the heads up itcrashed.

RLE - if you ate at a chinese restaurant in Munich I would bet that it was a chinese dude cooking the food. I could be WONG (i crack myself up) but thats just my guess.

 

I am sure not a lot of people here know that the W204 is built in Egypt too, mainly for the local market. Do not buy the argument that "you're buying a Mercedes regardless of where it was built because they all conform to MB's quality standards." Egyptian built W204s have HUGELY misaligned doors - among other "features - that would leave a German QA officer completely shocked. Early builds had as much as 20mm bulge (Yes almost an inch) at the beltline, the dealers could not deliver the cars to their customers before attempting to better the alignment during PDIs.

 

tmehanna thanks for dropping the knowledge. i had no idea that they were also built in egypt. to be honest that freaks me out a little. it must be close to impossible to replicate the german plant. the only way i could see this working is if the actual plant engineers and workers were to move out of country and start the plant themselves. or if the people that are in charge of QC cloesly monitor the building of each vehicle.

 

Forgot to mention that my Egyptian built car came with factory buffer burns aka holograms all over the paint. Why I accepted the car? 18 months waiting list here!