What is the Build-to-order cycle time from order to delivery in the South East?

With BMW it was 1 month and sometimes less. I spoke with one dealer and they were quoting 4 months which surprised me given the factory is just one state over.

 

Now that's funny..... ALL production is scheduled and allocated to each dealer out 90+ days in advance - and a dealer's customer/unsold order with the factory is changeable (if ordered choices/features are available) up to about 5 weeks in advance of production .. and then there is shipping/transit time.

Look if you need a Mercedes in February - make your choices - if a dealer does not have it now - your dealer to get your business will check what might be available that they can get from what's on-the-ground-now at other dealers now - or what is at VPC now - or anything coming off production or scheduled for production that has locked-down-for-production but not customer sold...

It's not rocket science - you just need a capable dealer who is willing to go to work to earn your business..

 

Makes sense. It's amazing how many dealers are either not capable or not hungry.

 

I'll weigh in on this. I ordered a 2020 GLE 450 toward the end of June, 2019. It is now nearly 7 months later and not only do I not have my GLE, but my dealer can't or won't give me any information on the status of my order. Every time I check in with my salesperson (or even the sales manager), he tells me he has no information about the car, when it might be built or delivered to me. I am getting very frustrated. It seems other people here on MBWorld are getting updates on their orders. They know about when the car will go into production. They get VIN numbers. They at least have a clue when their cars will be delivered. I live in Bellevue, Washington (US West Coast). I ordered my car from a dealer in Yakima, WA. My GLE 450 order includes most options with the exception of E-ABC. Is it normal to wait almost 7 months and still have no information available about my order? I've done factory orders on other Mercedes over the years and I've never experienced this problem. Looking for others' experiences.....

 

It is normal with this vehicle to wait that long (or longer). It is not normal, nor is it acceptable (IMO) for your dealer to not keep you updated via NetStar. They are well aware of whatever your vehicle's current status is. They are trying to keep you in the dark and on the hook so you do not try to go elsewhere to find one in stock.

I placed two orders for my 450 - one in March 2019 and one in July 2019. The March order, which was nearly completed in April 2019, didn't get delivered until November. The June order, to my knowledge, still has not been delivered.

 

Thank you very much, Bigpern23. Misery loves company. And you are spot on; I'm not so distressed by the wait, but rather by being kept in the dark on the status of my order. On a recent contact with the dealer about this, they said, "we don't know when, if ever, your car will be delivered. Maybe we should just search existing inventory with other dealers and see if we can find something close to what you ordered". I find that to be a very unsatisfactory response. I want what I ordered. I keep challenging their assertion that NetStar doesn't offer any information about the status of my order. I'm beginning to think they don't know how to use NetStar.

 

The MB manufacturing system (like about all major auto manufacturing systems) was not equipped to handle these "exceptions" where on these older orders that "came-off-the-line-incomplete" .

It's the manufacturing systems that feed's NetStar - and once a unit "comes-off-incomplete" the NetStar system does not show "why/what's-missing" and does not show "when-it-is-scheduled-to-complete" - so the lack of information at the dealer level comes from the lack of information from Vance - as far as I "think" - these units are listed in detail on a laptop at Vance - I hope !

To the original OP - there are more GLE's "around" now than mid-Fall - and every dealer in January is working hard to start the year strong - so regional on-the-ground inventory search - and VPC search for that region - "should" be in the cards for any dealer that has their wits about them - "find-one"/"send-one"/trade "should" be possible.

Yes - GLE's are still "margin limited" - with no additional dealer profit incentives - so across-country/other-region searches will involve higher transportation costs - and frankly prohibit find-one/send-one/trade - and getting one without a swap just means the "giving" dealer loses one unit and doesn't have any Mercedes sugar for that shipped unit.

Keep the beat !

 

This has been my personal experience as a potential first time mercedes benz buyer in midwest. Keep in mind I have purchased multiple Bmws and Audis through the years with little hassle including M cars and RS models.

This has been the worse car buying experience I have ever gone through for the Gle 580. I contacted by phone and email over 25 MB dealerships in the Midwest, east coast, and down south. Over half did not even reply back and the ones that did had an arrogant attitude like they were doing me a favor in getting an ordered Gle 580. Only one smaller dealership was willing to play ball but who knows if it will really materialize. Pricing was laughable at every dealership except the one I am dealing with. Most were like 1.5% off msrp is a take it or leave it deal and when I asked if this vehicle was being treated like a Gle 63 Amg they said yes and allocations only going to their repeat customers. Even for a cash purchase none except the one dealership made any attempts to gain my business or work out a deal. Maybe the economy is to strong and MB dealerships aren't hungry to gain new customers. Overall the car buying experience versus BMW and Audi dealerships has been below disappointing.

 

It's all about supply and demand at this point. The GLE are selling like hotcakes and any GLE that's on the lot will be snatched up quick. There's no incentive for them to discount the SUV since someone else who is local is willing to pay retail or more.

 

I put in my order for the GLE 450 in July 2019, I didn't get any info for many months. Finally, on 11/23 I got news my build date is 2/20/20.

 

Placed an order for a 450 at the end of December. SA has stated March delivery. Hope that sticks.

 

Funny, my July order just showed up on the dealer website. Looks like it has finally been delivered. I kind of want to go take it for a test drive and check out the AMG interior and AIRMATIC suspension (which I didn't get in the rig that I eventually purchased).

 

Have fun. Let me know if you notice a big difference between standard suspension and the Airmatic. I added Airmatic to my order. I have it on my AMG E43 and have had it on some of my other Mercedes over the years. I think it is a "nice to have" but not super necessary. I also know it is very expensive to fix if something goes wrong with it. Thanks for you input to my original inquiry.

 

Thanks for the push. I followed up with my previous dealer who sold me a 2018 E63S at the start of 2018 and she was able to find a GLE580 pretty close to what I am looking for.

The only catch is it has 20” wheels which doesn’t have the wider 315 rear tires. I wanted the 21” but presumably I can fix that via eBay at some point. Or maybe someone here will want to downsize swap because of potholes concerns.

 

My experience on the length of time and also the lack of meaningful and reliable information delivered during the process. But there are lessons to be learned if there's a next time. Choose a dealer that has a lot of experience placing custom orders and can demonstrate a good relationship with the factory. If nothing more, your chances are greater that you'll get accurate information about build and delivery dates, or confirmations that your build is in the queue and where. The failure to keep a customer properly informed is inexcusable, and frankly, encourages a market where the customer's ability to "incentivize" the dealer to "reprioritize" another customer's order so that it becomes yours is something no one talks about.

 

I do not understand the 90 day production time for a GLE built in Alabama. I ordered my GLE 350 November 20th. Good news is that it is built and on the train coming up to NJ. Should be at the dealership by February 20th.

My X5 was ordered and delivered to my dealership in 4 weeks.

Is it a demand issue or simply limited production capacity that causes MB to take 3x the time compared to the X5?

 

Reviewing the various delivery times threads, it seems that the 450 engine is a holdup. We ordered a 450 in mid-September and the dealer has told me 2D March since December. He has allowed me to look over his shoulder as he looked it up on his computer. We'll see...

 

I ordered a GLE 580 on October 29th. Today is 100 days into the process and according to my SA there has been no change in my order status. Yes, it is frustrating!

 

Ordered our GLE450 October 30th. Car delivered to dealer January 30th. We just picked it up today.

 

Ordered my GLE 53 AMG at the beginning of January. Production date is mid-May, delivery by end of August.

 

Seems a long time from production to delivery!, would help if we knew your location.

 

Romania

 

Ordered a 300d in May, built on the 4th of December, now stuck in Germany... Nobody knows why. I'm in the UK.