Some W204s Made in South Africa?
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Apr 2007
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From: Orlando, FL
2026 AMG GT63 Pro
Hello all!
Anyhow, just browsing eBAY and found this curious one.
Just scroll down where the VIN sticker picture is and it says the car is "Made in South Africa."
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2008-...=p4506.c0.m245
Anyhow, just browsing eBAY and found this curious one.
Just scroll down where the VIN sticker picture is and it says the car is "Made in South Africa."
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2008-...=p4506.c0.m245
Super Member
Joined: Jan 2008
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From: Orange County, CA
E350
From what I was told, U.S. W204's come from Germany and South Africa (in the beginning there was more from Germany, but as time goes on more will be from South Africa). China will make W204's for mostly Asia (just like how E-Classes made in China are for Asia).
Of course things COULD change in the future and if costs become too high for the U.S. market (since automobile price competition is much more fierce here than other countries), and maybe eventually only MB's made in South Africa and China are imported here, and German-made vehicles are shipped to countries where MB sells for significantly higher prices... but who knows!
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Joined: Mar 2009
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From: S.F. Bay Area
2008 C300 Sport, 2010 RX350 AWD
So what if some MBs are made in South Africa..FYI..SA plant actually received a gold standard award for initial quality from JD Power & associates..
IMO, build quality is way way way more important than where it's been build..
IMO, build quality is way way way more important than where it's been build..
Hello all!
Anyhow, just browsing eBAY and found this curious one.
Just scroll down where the VIN sticker picture is and it says the car is "Made in South Africa."
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2008-...=p4506.c0.m245
Anyhow, just browsing eBAY and found this curious one.
Just scroll down where the VIN sticker picture is and it says the car is "Made in South Africa."
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2008-...=p4506.c0.m245
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Super Member
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From: Toronto, ON, Canada
MY2001 C320
So you won't mind taking a MB made in say, China?
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From: Orange County, CA
E350
Just to add a tangent to this discussion, while I was test driving the C350 a couple months ago, I was talking with salesmen at FJNB, and one of them mentioned that recently they received a shipment of Black W204's from South Africa, where the paint was Black, but the door handles were Obsidian Black. No one at the dealership noticed until a customer brought her car back and asked whether or not the handles were supposed to "sparkle" like that. Then after FJNB looked at the other black W204's in their inventory, they discovered the massive error that affected the C-Classes made in South Africa, but not Germany. Pretty interesting, eh? 
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From: Llandudno, Cape Town, South Africa
late 2009 CLK 350 Coupe Elegance, '65 Jaguar S Type wires
You should check your facts - All black C classes come with Obsidian black handles. It was not an error.
SA quality easily matches Germany - If I had my choice I would want a car built in Vietnam. They take the most trouble of all plants. Their attention to detail is utterly mind boggling & they use better (less environmentally friendly) paint. They run around all the body gaps with dial gauges during assembly.
Write off the Asians at you peril. They take great pride in their workmanship. Some of the best built Toyotas in the world come out of the Thai plant & a Buick built by Shanghai GM is better scewed together than anything out of America. They have even fixed up all the dreadful American plastic mouldings. And Shanghai GM makes money.
If you want cheap crap out of Asia you get cheap crap. If you are prepared to pay they will build things as well as anybody - albeit using imported technology. (Japan & sometimes Korea excepted). A Konica Minolta camera built in the Tianjin FTZ plant is world class & as good as the Japanese built equivalent.
SA quality easily matches Germany - If I had my choice I would want a car built in Vietnam. They take the most trouble of all plants. Their attention to detail is utterly mind boggling & they use better (less environmentally friendly) paint. They run around all the body gaps with dial gauges during assembly.
Write off the Asians at you peril. They take great pride in their workmanship. Some of the best built Toyotas in the world come out of the Thai plant & a Buick built by Shanghai GM is better scewed together than anything out of America. They have even fixed up all the dreadful American plastic mouldings. And Shanghai GM makes money.
If you want cheap crap out of Asia you get cheap crap. If you are prepared to pay they will build things as well as anybody - albeit using imported technology. (Japan & sometimes Korea excepted). A Konica Minolta camera built in the Tianjin FTZ plant is world class & as good as the Japanese built equivalent.
Super Member
Joined: Jan 2008
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From: Orange County, CA
E350
Wow, that's interesting! Why do they do that? Are the other colors the same thing (ie: pearl white handles on arctic white cars)?
And I wonder why FJNB didn't know about this "feature" of the car... you'd think they would be better informed...
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Had: 1987 300TD, Had: 2004 C230 Sport Sedan, Have: 2014 E350 Sport, Have: 2019 S450
It's been that way at least since '03, when I posted a similar question after I discovered this 'feature'.It's not noticable outside about 5 feet, so it's not an issue for me, but it does stand out every time I'm wiping the car down after a wash (working up close).
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Just to add a tangent to this discussion, while I was test driving the C350 a couple months ago, I was talking with salesmen at FJNB, and one of them mentioned that recently they received a shipment of Black W204's from South Africa, where the paint was Black, but the door handles were Obsidian Black. No one at the dealership noticed until a customer brought her car back and asked whether or not the handles were supposed to "sparkle" like that. Then after FJNB looked at the other black W204's in their inventory, they discovered the massive error that affected the C-Classes made in South Africa, but not Germany. Pretty interesting, eh?
furthermore, I don't think we need to worry about build quality differences between the different assembly plants.
Senior Member
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From: S.F. Bay Area
2008 C300 Sport, 2010 RX350 AWD
Well..it's fletcher jones..I wouldn't expect them to know anything better..IMO..FJ is one of the worst dealers around..
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Joined: Jun 2009
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From: Inland Empire, CA
C300, 330i, MDX
No, I won't mind...
IMHO and as far as I'm concerned, MB quality control is "MB quality control"... irregardless of the location. If they build one in Mars or Pluto and it's MB quality control, I'm fine with it... BTW mine is from SA.
IMHO and as far as I'm concerned, MB quality control is "MB quality control"... irregardless of the location. If they build one in Mars or Pluto and it's MB quality control, I'm fine with it... BTW mine is from SA.
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From: Orange County, CA
E350
Hmmmmmmmm... that's an interesting reason. Do all colors have metallic door handles? Or just black cars?
And I've never noticed any fingernail scratches on the door handle itself... usually the fingernail scratches are in the concave part of the door underneath the door handle (made when people go to grab the door handle). Is that part also metallic? Or does the paint on that part match the rest of the door? I ask because that's the part that shows fingernail marks the MOST... not the door handle itself...
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From: New Jersey
E550 4MATIC
I think you are being generous here, they use one color handle because it's cheaper to make only one variation and black is the only color in the paint chart that has two versions (flat black and obsidian black) so they probably calculated they could save X by making only one black door handle instead of two. My E-Class (regular flat black) has the same Obsidian Black door handles.
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From: San Francisco, CA
2017 E300
we had an entire thread on the obsidian door handles. I could have sworn that a mercedes benz technician said that was the reason. No idea. My car is obsidian so i cant check on the concave parts (but its probably just the flat black)
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From: Sweden
S213
That is just ridiculous, its not the handle that gets scratched by nails, it is the door behind the handle, so why should the handle itself be stronger?
This is mainly done for saving money nothing else.
