Sportstick

http://www.autoweek.com/article/2009...NEWS/912029995

vcruiser

Glad mine is german built.

Not like it will make much of a difference.

BenTrovato

I'm sure the quality control will be up to par. More interesting is the date of 2014. Looks like our C should be good for another 4 years! 7 year life cycle seems good until the next C class is debuted.

Peabody

I'm glad I picked up mine in Sindelfingen.. and my next Mercedes will not be a C class.

Also, 7 year life cycle, perfect. I'm betting the next generation C class will also offer a hybrid to take advantage of US gov't manufacturing stimulus.

EASYDOES1T

nyca

The crashing US dollar is one reason for this.

Isn't VW building a plant in TN now too? I can see some future Porsche SUV production coming to that plant also, since such a high % of those are sold into the US market.

chilledbenz

You know my R class was built in that plant and I've only had one problem with it. My C class that was built in Germany however, has had many problems. Honestly these days it just seems like luck of the draw on if you get a good car or a bad car, doesnt matter where its made or who its made by.

Glyn M Ruck

I hope the Tuscaloosa plant does a better job of building the C Class than the ML. ML fit & finish leaves much to be desired.

Now they need to get the expensive American labour force to accept salaries & benefits in line with the rest of the world & they will have a winning formula.

AMGTTV8

Who cares - I'm not worried...
If anything this is going to help them lower their costs, allowing for greater investment on R&D

It's like *****ing at Nike for making shoes abroad - they are still the same shoe!

RLE

You are quite sure that MLs for your part of the world are not buiit in Graz?

RLE

This message was sent to all US dealers this morning:

Dear employees
*
As you know, in the last few weeks we have scrutinized the possible production locations for the Mercedes-Benz C-Class successor generation from 2014 on. This is our top-selling model series abroad. That is why it is particularly important to produce it in close proximity to our sales markets.
*
With the present decision we will bolster the market-based production of our passenger car models worldwide in due consideration of our responsibility for Germany as a business location. At the same time, we will be able to safeguard the jobs of the Sindelfingen employees in C-Class production.
*
In this context, the Board of Management has decided the following:*
*

The C-Class production for the European market and the model variants will be combined at the Bremen plant beginning in 2014. Through this bundling, we are improving our efficiency, reducing costs and bolstering the strength of the Bremen plant as a center of competence for the C-Class.
*
From that time on, for the first time, the C-Class will also be produced at the Tuscaloosa plant for the key NAFTA market. This will enable us to achieve close-to-market production of the new C-Class sedan independent of currency fluctuations. At the same time, we can also utilize the existing capacities at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International (MBUSI). Currently, the local scopes account for nearly twenty percent of the C-Class production worldwide.
*
To enable covering the approx. 20% higher C-Class production volume in the Bremen plant, the assembly of the SL roadster will be moved from Bremen to the Sindelfingen plant in return. We will use the resources freed up in Sindelfingen through the discontinuation of C-Class production to strengthen Sindelfingen as a central technology and research location and worldwide competence center for the production of premium and luxury class vehicles, increasingly also with alternative drives.
*
For the Sindelfingen plant, we have developed a personnel concept for compensating a substantial portion of the employment effects arising from the reorganization of C-Class production from 2014 through the assembly of the SL. The remaining affected employees, which number about 1,800, will also be offered attractive employment opportunities in the future. This will enable maintaining the employment of the Sindelfingen employees engaged in C-Class production. In Bremen, employment will be safeguarded for the long term as a result of the extended C-Class production.*
*
Due to the high regional demand in China, the capacity for the C-Class assembly at the Beijing plant is to be expanded as planned.
*
Along with the future Rastatt-Kecskemét coordinated production system for our compact vehicles, the C-Class production network will make a decisive contribution to the even more dedicated use of our resources, thus ensuring clear and stable future prospects. We currently produce a good 80% of our vehicles in Western Europe but sell less than 60% there. This gap will continue to widen over the next few years and our overseas markets will increasingly gain in importance. That is why we must move our production closer to the market in order to facilitate an even quicker and more flexible response to regional customer requirements, utilize customs and logistical advantages and at the same time eliminate our dependency on currency fluctuations. In addition, by honing the expertise of our locations, we are reducing the level of complexity in our production processes. This is indispensable, particularly in the price-sensitive and intensely competitive segment of the C-Class.
*
In this process, Germany will remain the essential core of our production network. A look at the figures illustrates this. Although we generate “only” around 28% of our revenues in Germany, 89% of our division’s employees work here. In addition, we recently announced that we want to invest around €3 billion in the German passenger car locations in 2009 and 2010. That, too, is another signal for Germany as a business location.
*
We will explain all other details to the Works Council and elaborate the effects on the employment situation. Of course, we will keep you informed on the results and next steps!
*
Yours,
*
Dieter Zetsche************************ Wilfried Porth************************ Rainer Schmückle

Glyn M Ruck

Yes - they are now & vastly better

RLE

It's been well known for more than ten years that production costs in the US are lower than in Germany which is why the ML is built here.

Here's today's news on that subject which reveals it's all about money.

"Daimler shift sparks union concerns

This week’s decision by Daimler to shift parts of the future production of its best selling Mercedes C-Class sedan to the US exposes the mismatch between large domestic footprints and global sales of many German industrial companies.

Daimler said earlier this week that it would centralise German production of the C-Class in Bremen and would start assembling the next generation of the model in its Tuscaloosa plant in the US from 2014.

The plan was a blow to its 94-year-old Sindelfingen plant, where the C-Class will no longer be produced, and highlighted how managers are looking to expand plants in regions with low labour costs and weak currencies.

Less than 25 per cent of Daimler’s sales are generated in its home country, but Daimler continues to employ about 60 per cent of its 273,000 workers in Germany.

Rival carmakers and other large German industrial groups also lag behind in moving production to low-cost countries. Siemens, Europe’s largest engineering group, is one example.

“Siemens’ manufacturing and headcount are heavily weighted towards Germany, which accounts for 17 per cent of sales but 27 per cent of Siemens’ production and 31 per cent of total employment,” said Andreas Willi, analyst at JPMorgan. “Addressing the industrial footprint ... would be a key value driver” for Siemens, Mr Willi said.

Given many companies’ lopsided production footprint, Daimler’s decision this week sparked anxiety among German unions.

IG Metall mobilised more than 10,000 Daimler workers on Wednesday against the move. Thanks to the weak dollar, workers in Alabama earn about €30 ($45) an hour, which compares with about €50 in Germany.

Other premium carmakers such as BMW and Audi have been producing sports utility vehicles and smaller models in eastern Europe and other low-cost regions for a while. They have also started to spread production of their smallest sedans such as the C-Class around the world. Daimler is producing the C-Class at its South African plant and in China.

Daimler’s arch-rival BMW is producing its 3 series sedan – which is comparable to the C-Class – mainly in Germany but also at its South African and Chinese plants.

BMW does not plan to produce the model in the US because it can import it from South Africa without suffering from the two factors that make imports to the US expensive: the weak dollar and tariffs.

South Africa’s rand is pegged to the dollar and there are no trade barriers between the two countries.

But BMW has also ramped up production of its roadster and sports-utility models in the US. Norbert Reithofer, BMW’s chief executive, said: “We already made this decision two years ago when we agreed to lift production in our Spartanburg plant to 240,000 units.”

Christoph Stürmer, analyst at IHS Global Insight, said that more than anything else, the decision showed the dire state of Daimler’s US plant. “The plant in Alabama is running far below capacity so Daimler had to do something about that,” he said.

Mr Stürmer said that in spite of the skewed manufacturing footprint, he did not expect a wave of production shifts of the more expensive premium models from Germany to low-cost countries.

“Germany has a high competency for complex products in small series, which makes up for cost disadvantages,” he said.

Glyn M Ruck

South Africa's Rand is most certainly not pegged to the US Dollar. In the last year it has fluctuated from 10.8 to 1 to 7.28 to 1 - more on Dollar weakness than Rand strength.

Glyn M Ruck

BTW - having had a lifetime career in a US supermajor oilco trading in 227 countries. Our highest production cost, bar none, was in the US irrespective of economies of scale. This was mostly driven by the high cost of US labour & benefits.

Total company staff burden per head is almost universally higher in the US than ROW and escalates severely as competence & education level of staff rises. Productivity levels don't match places like East Asia either.

In a globalised world this is why the US has lost so many jobs to abroad at all levels.

Germany is one country in Europe that suffers similar problems to the US from a local labour perspective. That's why Benz use so much foreign labour - such as Turkish - in their German plants & Audi does so much in Poland.

RLE

Doesn't much matter where the workers come from since all the unionized German manufacturers have to deal with IG Metall.

Glyn M Ruck

Yes, correct but they are able to grade foreign labour jobs at a lower level on educational etc. grounds. I was involved in the Siemens Westinghouse takeover & some interesting manipulation takes place.

nyca

MB should be making more cars in the US - they derive what % of their sales from the US, versus what they produce here? I am sure that even with this C shift, the figure is lopsided.

Americans are perfectly capable of assembling high quality cars.

VelociRaptor

All of the MLs are built at MBUSI unless something has changed here reciently.

VelociRaptor

Why is that?

VelociRaptor

Yes, VW is taking applications now I believe for production team members.

Glyn M Ruck

Americans are capable of doing pretty much anything they put their minds to. There is nothing wrong with Honda's & Toyota's built in the US. It's the local car firms that give them a bad name generally. The problem is not the American worker. It's senior management.

I still see the US - long term - going high tech & moving dirty industry offshore. There is of course a limit to this - time will tell.

FrankW

2014 is gonna be the next C-class...who cares where this has to do with your W204 is from...

mine's from SA plant btw. only had one issue with sunroof switch needed replaced.

Glyn M Ruck

East London is doing a nice job of the W204 now. I was critical of some early cars that got out of the plant somehow - but now they are fine. Understand the SA plant is being moved to back up insatiable demand in Asia from 2014. More upgrades taking place here at Merc & BMW.

RLE

Steyr in Graz, Austria has been building MLs for the home market for years. They also build the old style G-wagen.