Vehicle Preparation Centre, where all new cars receive preliminary inspection and service after the long period of shipping from Germany.

 

thank you

 

How long does cars usually stay at VPC for inspection? Is it random?

 

It's fairly random and depends on a lot of things. The VPC is the first place the cars go after getting off the ship or train (in this case ship from South Africa) and aside from pre pro test cars they aren't released from the VPC until the cars have been "released for sale", meaning EPA certified and a few other things. That may not happen until February or so, and the first US non pre pro C43s built may have been there since November or so. So they may sit at the VPC for 4 months before the cars are even released. Some C300s and S580s sat at the VPC for more like 7 months beofre they were released. From there it's pretty much about how quickly they can get on a train or truck to the dealership, and depending on stockpile and how much of a shortage there is on truck drivers, that can also be quite a while and is more random. There's still 2022 vehicles waiting for release from VPC months after 2023s went on sale because they're in the back of the VPC and haven't been picked up yet, though that's very rare especially on sold units.

 

a sedan in blue!

https://www.mobile.de/es/Veh%C3%ADcu...359211029.html

I have only seen 1 of the following colors listed:
Lunar
Cirrus
Mojave

Every other color has been represented well. Surprised cirrus hasn't been more common. I have yet to see RZX wheels online.

 

Does the rear tinted windows come standard? Hopefully not. I love non tinted windows, so much more depth to the car.

 

Not in the US - cars coming here will have a code to exclude it to legalities? Only SUV's are allowed to ship with rear passenger tinted windows.

 

So there are no tinted windows at all for c43? not even on the panorama roof? I might have to tint then.
However tinting on rear windows may cause a problem like w206 c300.

 

The car is not officially released here yet - otherwise cars would be processed and allocated to a carrier with a relatively short turnaround time. VPC is basically functioning as holding ground until the release of the C43.

Whether they are waiting for x number of cars in inventory, or a North American specific patch/code for the electronics, EPA verification, or even a press release - I don't know. As soon as cars are released, the new inbound cars should be processed quickly.

Last I saw Dealer ETA on a built/shipped car sitting at VPC was 2/28/23. Whether that is a release date or not I don't know.

 

For my car, the ETA is 1/30/23. My dealers expect to release the car sometime in Feb. I also saw another c43 having the same ETA. So I am assuming there are quite a few c43s whether they are preordered or not are in the same ship now.

 

They have changed/fixed that issue.

pano/sun roofs are tinted.

 

I have seen a car with the RZX wheels as I remember thinking :why is this one's wheels only costing $1,450?" but i don't remember which dealership had it.

You might be interested in an app called VINWiki for keeping track of these cars.

 

I have seen them listed on VIN decoders - just no real life photos

 

Superman Spec!

Also 2 fin diffuser.... I really prefer the 4 fin

 

My SA says my car is on a ship with ETA 01-Feb-23. I assume that means to VPC. Not sure of release date though

 

What ship is yours on ?

 

You mean the VPC? It will be long beach, CA.

 

In the case of the C 300s and S 580s, it was probably likely due to waiting for the HERMES module for those who didn't sign the waiver.

 

2 fin is only for towing package - I don't think we even have that option here stateside.

 

I heard that it might not be a release until March, which is kind of crazy to me. I wonder why Mercedes is holding back on the release for this car. Especially the configurator..

 

Yes still no configurator. Strange

 

I know we can use the German site but I want to spec mine on the us website lol feels different

 

There could be few explanations: US software is not ready for a final release, cannot settle of the pricing (since it was unofficially priced at just under $60k and since then Dollar lost 10% to Euro.

 

Here is a random video from a random channel in a random language, enjoy : ) (It randomly showed up in the youtube recommendations so I thought I would share, I guess I've been browsing C 43 videos a little too much lately)

 

Actually, nothing is random in Youtube.
When you watch a certain video or do a search, Youtube remembers it and will use their AI (ie Google's) to bring up 'recommended' video clips.
And, one more thing, their memory runs a long long time into your past.