Thanks for the vid. Seem to handle as well as can be expected. I assume Active Curve will still be available - love that on my ‘12 even though I had to wait a few months to get it. Frankfurt or Paris debuts would be great.

So they’re still calling it a ‘19, even though we know the US ‘19 is a W166? Hmmmm.

It would really surprise me if Mercedes had a 6 month model run, but I’d like to be surprised. Something got screwed up on this release - I wonder if we’ll ever know what. It’s obvious this was not planned and the drivetrain update to the base W166 is a stopgap measure.

I think what Greg is saying is why change the engine vs just a paint color or two? There are several possible reasons. It would give the short year buyers something better, maybe keep from discounting the lame duck, maybe allow an engine line shut down to start building the new engine, etc.

True, but there will be a changeover period where a large number of V6’s will drop off and a large number of the I 6 will be needed. The GLE is one of the largest volumn sellers. Ramping up production of the I 6 will require changes to the assembly line .

Are you saying the GLE engine is made in Alabama? I’ll have to look at a vehicle sticker again but last I knew they were made in Affalterbach. They likely have various engine plants but didn’t know any were in the US.

There are always issues retooling a factory for a new Gen. They have to build extra inventory so that the retooling shutdown doesn’t result in significant loss of sales. A product that sells in the hundreds of thousands requires complex automation. The fact that the engine is built at a different factory just transfers the issue to another location.

But specifically about the engines being no issue you may be overlooking the huge numbers and complexity. The fact that they are building a few thousand I6’s is insignificant to ramping production to 200,000-300,000 more. The engine lines that were building the 18 GLE engines now have to be retooled for the I6. And at the same time the non Mercedes suppliers of engine components have changeovers. AMG engines are built in a different plant so I’m guessing it was possible for them to provide a limited number of the AMG sourced engine for 2019 while the other factory lines shut down and retooled. If that was their strategy it also provided some enhancement to the short run 19 model. Only Mercedes knows the real strategy!

You can argue that none of this is an issue but that’s simply unrealistic in today’s complex manufacturing of an engine and components like Turbos and the Electronics-if you want a high quality product. Elon Musk is getting schooled on volumn production issues and he’s a lot smarter than most of us. As you said though it’s easier to add capacity for an existing engine than starting from scratch,

You Tube

My personal opinion is that not getting the F Pace is a good move. I doubt they are 5.1 seconds and once you get past the looks they aren’t in the same class as the German cars.
All signs are for an early spring 2020 GLE and the next Gen Engine and Tech May be worth waiting a few months to find out!

I think this thread got wandering a bit because of the lack of new information. The things you reference have been covered. We’re just waiting for something more real!