I'm not sure if I like this or not, but then again MB SUV's are built in Alabama.
This was reported by Autocar in the U.K.:

 

U.S still makes things?

jks

i guess it's good tho... does the fact it's made in U.S reflect on the price?

 

now, only if the chinese will let their currency appreciate in value, just imagine how many more things will be produced stateside

 

I read in Autoweek that they may start building the W204 here in the US.

 

I wish they chose different models.

For me, C Classes are just the right car, right size, etc. Too bad the right car is the one they keep building more of outside Germany.

 

no no no keep it in germany plz

(as if they're reading this :P)

 

Why? I have a South Africa built C300 (purchased in USA) that is far better than either of the German-built W203s I owned before.

As long as Mercedes-Benz quality control is in place, it doesn't matter to me which factory it comes from.

 

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/12/03/c...t-gen-c-class/

 

My subscription copy of the German auto magazine Auto Motor und Sport arrived yesterday and buried in a new cars article is an artist's conception of the 2014 C-Class. Since my 2008 will be due for replacement about that time, I have been waiting for some info about my next one and looking at the new one, I am not impressed. It is a bit homely with it's big upright grill way out there plus it's CLS-like low windows. The description claims it to be 20% more fuel efficient because of reduced weight with no mention of DI engines which surely have to be here by that time. There is a bunch of blather about a new multimedia system and something about I-Phones which is of little importance to me.

How about if some German here takes a look at the March 25 issue and posts a translation?

 

Did the Auto Motor und Sport have pictures of it? Can you post them?

As for the W205 being built in the U.S., I can understand this move. The C-Class is one of their big volume models in this country and I'm sure that the profit margin is slim. (This is true of many automakers in this segment.) If you look at the C-Class price, it has actually remained almost constant over the last 15 years. I think the W202 introduced for just around $30K MSRP back in the mid 90s, and today the C300 is still only around $33,000 MSRP. That's not much inflation, not to mention what has happened with the currency. This move will help to protect them against currency fluctuations in the future.

 

Actually, with EPA greenhouse gas emission caps - not much.

 

kinda, but I really wanted a german car :P

 

It is a German car, by DESIGN, HISTORY, CULTURE, PERFORMANCE STANDARDS, ASSEMBLY STANDARDS, HERITAGE, BRANDING!

Do you think Hondas, Toyotas, and Subarus are not Japanese cars? The vast majority are assembled in North America.

Are F Series trucks and Heavy Duty Dodge Rams not American? Built in Mexico.

 

Call me crazy, but I already thought that Mercedes had some w204's assembled in South Africa - If my geography is correct, this is not Germany, so whats the big deal moving it to the United States. Its a win - win situation in my opinion. Put some needing Americans to work, maybe save me a buck or two, and help MB get some profits to fund new R&D and put out great products!

@Towards the comment saying that Dodge rams and F series trucks not being made in the U.S. I have no idea. But I know for sure my Cadillac Escalade was made in Texas, and my previous H2 Hummer was made in the U.S. I see where you are going though with making a distinction between where the car is assembled, and what it is considered.

 

There is very little to no difference in car produced in any country. It's the car makers that provide the same facilities, engineering and quality standards -- it's just like a McDonalds, you will get the same product no matter where you are.

BMW SUVs and Z4s are produced in South Carolina, and Mercedes SUVs are produced in Alabama, but you don't hear any complaints about it's quality compared to the models made in Germany.

 

I think worker morale and education/experience plays a role in quality production. An experienced and motivated line worker can make all the difference in passing a subpar part, fastner or assembly down the line or taking the time to fix an issue. With modern production facilities, I don't think it plays as big a role as in the past, but it is certainly still a factor.

 

Look at all the Acura TL around, those are build in U.S also and is only tailored the americans and are not even available in Japan. Most of the people who buys these cars just assume they are build in Japan even though they are not.

 

Are there any updates to this thread? Just curious, not only the 2014 new C but the 2012 W204.

 

It will be the W205 2014. If it happens.

 

Just in case there are still some folks questioning the manufacturing ability of the US...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110131/..._manufacturing

Quote from the article:
"
Yet America remains by far the No. 1 manufacturing country. It out-produces No. 2 China by more than 40 percent. U.S. manufacturers cranked out nearly $1.7 trillion in goods in 2009, according to the United Nations.
"

 

Lame.

Quality difference is not what I'm completely concerned about, it's the emotional/"experience" level.

To me, speaking on a personal level, a U.S or non German assembled Benz isn't a full on Benz. If I want an American car, I'll buy one. If I want a Benz, I want it with the whole shebang, including knowing that it was built in the "Homeland" Germany.

That's just me though, and surely we all will feel differently about this.

 

Built in Germany with Turkish labour???

 

Sir, you are ridiculous. I won't even sugarcoat it. Out here, we don't have such perceptions that the vehicles are made with "souls" by those skilled, standing upright stereotypical Germans in the commercials. Come to Germany, get out of the tourist areas, and see what the real Germany is about. Open your car and see where the parts are made.

What you call wanting something made in the "homeland" is the persistent nationalism that exists in Germany, which makes an environment where people here will only buy German goods because of the label, even if it's made outside. The soul portion was invented by Americans who don't travel and see that these cars are tools. We learn about it here as "marketing" and how suseptible Americans are to the smallest marketing factors, such as that.

Turkish labor, as Glyn noted, is not 100% right, either, and to be frank, based on the racism problem that still persists in Germany, an inappropriate comment. Turks are part of the country and it's sad to see people who don't even live here supporting the dangerously increasing German nationalism problem. It's unfortunately despicable to debase a divide the population of a country based on their background, when they've been here for 60 years or more. It's typically German to not look at anyone who is not white as foreign, no matter how long they've been here, how well integrated they are, and how productive to society they are. In the US, everything is built by people from around the world. It's not called the labor of whatever country of ethnic background the builder might be. It's the work of that country they are in. This is increasingly a German problem and the resistance from the German people in the integration process of foreigners. This is also acknowledged by the interior ministry, as Germany has a massive problem in supplying their own labor needs, as well as importing skilled labor, including physicians. The physician shortage is a prominent piece, since the working conditions are pitiful, compensation pitiful, and the government has not made any measures to entice foreign, skilled physicians here to replace the German physicians who leave the moment they get their degree. Now 2/3 of the population will be retirees, and on top of other problems, there won't be enough physicians to look after them because they don't want to import foreigners and the population is considered "hostile" in the words of the interior ministry. The current shortage is already compromising care and leading to deaths. This is just ONE industry that can't be exported, like the auto industry to Russia and other destinations east. So the Turks can't win in Germany when they are working and being productive, so what is their incentive, when even a south African won't accept them as being productive, skilled, and integrated? Glyn is extremely helpful and productive to the community, which is why such a comment is all the more disappointing.

The German auto industry is hugely responsible for sending mass numbers of jobs outside of Germany, to destinations east. I live in a major city where the parts go through and we see the trains bringing in assembled GERMAN cars and/or their parts in from places like Kaliningrad, Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. If anything, at this point, the value and credit for the "homeland" should be given to those countries and China and the credit for finishing and assembly MAYBE to Germany. That's why we have the joke here "handgefertigt in Deutschland" because so many here know their stuff isn't even made in Germany. Then on top of that, Americans have some false perception of a sophisticated, technologically advanced society, which Germany is not. They are well behind the US in many things and the perception of German precision and automatically anything made in Germany is world class is marketing that was perpetuated by Americans, especially during the cold war to compete with east German propaganda. Again, come to Germany and see the made in Germany garbage. It will make you, just like us, choose the Chinese variants. Outside, you only see the export quality. Here, we see every bit of garbage and engineering disaster imaginable all because EVERYTHING here is run by a system and beancounters, and NOTHING works and NOTHING works together. The German language even has an english concept directly imported into the vocabulary from us "Marketing" because there is no word for it in German.

Stop perpetuating this myth about Germany and allow them to stand on their own. You would be surprised about how much America is hated by Germans, including western Germans, and how the US role in rebuilding Germany has been even revised and removed. That's a peeve of mine because they utterly HATE America, the news is filled with anti-American propaganda, yet fails to cover their own behavior, I've even experienced it in my schooling here, yet Americans and American media can't even report any negative truths about German manufacturing and society. Hell, Americans don't even know that the Hamburg cell is still fully operational, and every time there's a worldwide terror alert, it's because the lax German intelligence has lost their surveillance targets. That's the homeland here, filled with an estimated 200 high level Islamic terrorists and extremists, then on the other end, a huge number of *****, who are tolerated more than foreigners because they are German. The "homeland" also blames the US, still, to this day, for their own economic problems that have been documented as German problems. The US meltdown was only a tool used by the politicians to get the focus off them for not acting since warnings in 1999, and only furthered anti-Americanism, German Nationalism, monopolies, and right-extremism. These qualities are also being displayed during the Euro crisis. And in case it matters to you, Germany has been greatly criticized for being one of, if not, the largest trade partner with Iran, including repeated illegal sales of missile launch equipment and nuclear support equipment.

Get some perspective. It's a car. Your "homeland" Mercedes isn't even "homeland". it's as homeland as your imagination, isolated on another continent, makes you believe.

 

The Mercedes CLS, one of the World's outstanding vehicles in terms of design, performance and build-quality, is assembled in Santiago Tianguistenco, Mexico. PERIOD.
One has yet to hear of a complaint about the current CLS, also the NEW CLS will probably come out of this plant.
@ Glyn M Ruck - actually Pakistani labor with Greek supervisors in Germany, judging by the number of restaurants around MB, Opel, VW and Audi plants.

 

I apologise if my comments were seen in the wrong light. I'm tired of SA labour being blamed as incompetent when the East London plant frequently achieves the highest accolades.

I've spent time in the German Benz plants & they are no better than ours.