Why are the 2018 E-Class held up after arrival?
 

Does anyone know why these new cars are being held up like this?

Mine's been sitting in Halifax for about 4 weeks now. This is crazy and frustrating.

I even have the car's serial number, but no news of an eventual release.

I had my car's VIN the day it came off the assembly line. All the serial number means is that the car was built.
In the US the primary delay was for the marketing release 11 days ago.
The secondary delay is for a shortage of port/VPC parts for cars with certain options.

Do you mean that cars arrive with parts missing?
 

Do you mean that cars arrive by ship from Germany with parts missing,
and we must wait forever for these parts to come in to get the car?
I doubt this.

There are several options that are installed at the VPC, not the factory. One example is the illuminated star. Others include the miscellaneous items such as cargo nets, software updates, service campaigns, etc.

It's absolutely true. My wife's car has been sitting in Halifax for four weeks waiting for refit parts for the air suspension. My car sat in Germany for seven weeks before shipping last week. It now has an ETA Halifax of Sept.11.

Mine was also built in June ...
 

Mine was also built in June, and has now been sitting in Halifax since at least July 27 ... for 5 weeks and counting ... !!!

This is way too long and is quickly getting ridiculous.

Let's hope they get the damn parts soon ... before I decide to keep my 2015 C300, and cancel everything.

Well, my first E300 was produced the end of June, 2017 and then sat at the port in Germany for 9 weeks before being sent back to the factory for an engine exchange. I reordered the car in Sept for an October build. Meanwhile, the first car finally got to Raleigh and the dealer sent it to a dealer in Florida. I had no idea that it even came into the US! I hope that the Florida dealer was made aware of the drive train rebuild. I can't understand how MB can produce a vehicle only 95% or less and then finish the build at the port. Unreal!!!!

What does VPC mean?
 

What does VPC mean?

Vehicle Preparation Center It is where cars are prepared for distribution to dealers.
There is one near every port that Mercedes uses.

Despite what your dealer is telling you, I think it has to do with the fact that dealers have a lot of unsold 2017 E300s in inventory, which they'll have an even harder time unloading if there were 2018 E class sedans side-by-side. I think MBNA is waiting for the 2017 inventory to dwindle quite a bit before they start shipping 2018s to dealers. And they can't delivery yours without delivering a bunch of other 2018s.

We tried to order a 2017 E400 in April but was told the factory was no longer accepting ‘17 orders as they were sold out. Our ‘18 arrived in Halifax in early August and is still there! Getting frustrated I’ve spoken to the dealer and, at least here in the Toronto area, there are very few ‘17’s available. Hope we get ours soon

Mine was finally delivered to me on September 15 !!
 

My 2018 E300-4Matic (which was also stalled in Halifax since August) was finally delivered to me on September 15.

Anyone else taken delivery of an '18 E sedan? Our dealer is still telling us they have no ETA. Ours has been in Halifax for months now

Thanks