schwarz

hey guys.

just curious, what variants of the 221 are currently being sold in other countries?

here in australia we have S350, S350L, S500, S500L, S600, S63, S65 (by 'L' i mean the long wheelbase versions).

i've also seen some S300 around asia.

IluvS500

hmm we have all long wheel base here sometimes designated on the window sticker as S550V i think? It used to be that way for the W220. No L designations here.

S550, S550 4M, S63, S600, S65...

schwarz

yep, i just put the 'L' by myself.

long wheelbase versions are usually referred to as V221 instead of W221.
at least that's what i read in merc enthusiast.

what about from europe?

tlbeedy

Just curious as to the price difference between the S350 vs all other S class models offered in australia.

Kar don

Yes, USA only gets the V221. Same with the R-class, only the V251, no W251.

WingFlex

In Malaysia:

S300 (V221) - RM639,888 approx. USD182,825 Locally Assembled
S350 (V221) - RM754,888 approx. USD215,682 (Trim Level: SE) Locally Assembled
S350 (V221) - RM908,888 approx. USD259,682 (Trim Level: SE) Fully Imported
S350 (V221) - RM828,888 approx. USD236,825 (Trim Level: SEL) Locally Assembled
S350 (V221) - RM978,888 approx. USD279,682 (Trim Level: SEL) Fully Imported
S500 (V221) - RM1,411,888 approx. USD403,396 Fully Imported
S65AMG (V221) - RM2,222,188 approx. USD634,910 Fully Imported

*SEL trim level are fully loaded with Night View Assist, Distronic Plus, Luxury Front Headrests, LOGIC7 and Rear Seat Entertainment and TV tuner that are not available in SE trim level. However, the S350 (SE) already has very good standard options incl. rear seat refrigerator, rear seat pkg with memory, luxury rear headrests and multi-countour front and rear seats.

Welcome to Malaysia, home of the world's most expensive luxury cars.

WingFlex

In Canada:

S450, S550, S63AMG, S600 and S65AMG. S450 and S550 available in 4MATIC.

S550 starts from C$119,500 base
S550 4MATIC starts from C$122,000 base

Add in GST+PST (that would be 16% if in British Columbia; usually GST+PST in BC is only 13% but cars above C$50k are subject to extra 3% luxury tax), they are quite a bit more expensive than in the US.

USD/CAD exchange rate is only approx 1USD=1.05CAD (around 5%) nowadays.

schwarz

i'll just list the current prices of each variant in USD for comparison.

S320CDI (SWB): $162,704
S350 (SWB): $161,017
S350 (LWB): $174,705
S500 (SWB): $221,981
S500 (LWB): $235,695
S600 (LWB): $313,680
S63 (SWB): $299,966
S65 (LWB): $385,745

schwarz

wouldnt singapore still hold that title?

Germancar1

I would love to know the reasoning at MBUSA as to why we don't get the S450 here. This has to be the first time the smaller V8 isn't in the lineup. I have my own theories, but I'd like to know the official reasoning behind not importing the S450.

M

ree

Here in germany, you can purchase the following S-Class versions:

S 320 CDI (SWB, LWB, 4matic)
S 420 CDI (SWB, LWB)

S 350 (SWB, LWB, 4matic)
S 450 (SWB, LWB, 4matic)
S 500 (aka as 550) (SWB, LWB, 4matic)

S 600 (LWB only)
S 63 AMG (SWB, LWB)
S 65 AMG (LWB only)

WingFlex

To a certain level, no. For example, the S300 is still more expensive in SG but S350-level and above, Malaysia is more expensive.

E.g. S500 is US$400k in MY and it is SGD418,888 in SG, and that's only US$276,129.

Basically, MY has some lower priced luxury cars because they are CKD (completely knocked down aka locally assembled) but when it comes to CBU (fully imported) models, the prices sky rocket.

I suppose I would rephrase that Malaysia is one of the few countries in the world with ridiculously expensive luxury cars.

Mercedes22

In the UK.

S280 £ 54,215.00 X 2 for Dollars.

S350 £ 56,765.00

S500 £ 69,815.00

S320 CDI £ 55,000.00

S350L £ 60,765.00

S500L £ 73,815.00

S600L £ 102,000.00

S320CDIL £ 59,000.00

AMG S65L £ 145,365.00

The 500 is the same as your 55. Plus our Petrol is $ 8.00 a Gallon.

And that is without any optional Extras.

Diesel Benz

The Danish price for an S500 SWB is 1 948 000 krone. About 262 000 euros or US$361 000. Is the Malaysian S500 short or long wheel base model?

WingFlex

It's a LWB. Wow, so Denmark joins the list of 'ridiculously expensive luxury cars'. I'm interested to know how many more countries can be on that list?

Now I assume it is so expensive in Denmark also because of the taxes? Are these 'luxury taxes' or import duties?

Diesel Benz

It cannot be import tax as Denmark is part of EU and the MBs come from another EU country. Denmark just has high taxes generally but the car tax is by far higher than other European countries (that I'm aware of). Most European countries have only VAT. Not sure about the car tax details, some luxury penalty could exist for the S-class type of cars.

WingFlex

I think overall though Malaysia is still more expensive if you consider the average income and compare the hamburger index (dollar-for-dollar comparison).

A BigMac costs US$5.1425 in Denmark and US$1.5986 in Malaysia. Not to mention the typical lunch of a common Malaysia is often around US$2-3. (Source: http://www.oanda.com/products/bigmac/bigmac.shtml)

GDP per capita for Denmark in 2006 was $37,000 and $12,900 for Malaysia.

In other words, even if two products cost the same, it is a lot more affordable for a Dane than a Malaysian. And following this comparison, factor in price, average income and living standard (BigMac index), Malaysia does indeed have one of the world's most ridiculously expensive luxury car prices. Basically, the country's "National Automotive Policy" is a joke.

Moreover, there is an additional "road tax" that gets quite expensive if engine displacement is above 2999cc, on top of insurnance to keep cars on the road every year, I wonder if such is the same in the EU?

Diesel Benz

Several European countries do have some kind of a yearly road tax which depends on the car emissions, meaning bigger cars normally pay more. But I agree, Denmark would lose this competition against Malaysia if the standard of living was taken into account.

But is Malaysia the over-all winner?

WingFlex

Can't say for sure it is the overall winner because I have not done extensive research in this area but from abstract observation, it is safe to say it is definitely very high on the list. I mean Hong Kong and Singapore are high on the list too but once standard of living was factored in, Malaysia is the 'winner'.

Another high on the list would be Vietnam, since the luxury market is not 'regulated' in the sense that parallel imports and cartels hold prices up. The standard of living is substantially lower than Malaysia too. However, a May 2005 ruling that allowed imports of used vehicles have brought in a lot more choices into the market and pulled prices down. The law allows imports of cars >10,000km and more than 6 months in service. Most cars are imported from the USA where cars (especially used ones) are probably the cheapest in the world. A US-spec low mileage (approx. 10,000km) S550 sells for US$220k or so, a steal compared to US$400k in Malaysia. However, locally-assembled cars such as the C-Class and E-Class are comparably cheaper than the ones in Malaysia still.

It is a shame how automotive market in Malaysia is regulated - protectionism at its peak. The only country with enough power to change this was the USA, who agreed in principle with the Malaysian gov't during the WTO talks recently that they [Malaysia] is allowed to keep its National Automotive Policy.

mbnj

Just got back from some time in Italy. Spoke to several drivers who said they had diesel variants, strangely very few 221's had any indication of model on rear driver's (or passenger) side. They were all blank so you had to ask driver. Not sure if that is common to all EU although other brands had indicators all over their back ends.

Mercedes22

The cars without the model indication usually are the 320 CDI and the 350's as they think that if you have a blank the rear you might think they are 500's.
It's quite common in the UK.

Diesel Benz

This may be the case in the UK, don't know about that. And on the continental Europe some most likely do it for the same reason. But I would claim that a car in Europe is most often debadged to hide the fact that it actually is a higher end model.

Myself I've had the higher end models debadged because I don't want brag and don't want to face jealous people (I don't find any reason for others to be jealous about my cars but for some reason other people do find a reason). Some even assume the W221 to be a W211, if they are not very familiar with the model. But the main reason for me to have the low end of the range W221 being debadged is that it makes it a lot easier to keep the trunk clean. Takes a lot of time to take care of the letters if you wash the car yourself.

I am sure the owner of a debadged S65AMG enjoys someone figuring out that his (her) car isn't an S350 like the other one assumed More than the one who had an S350 debadged and got someone believing it was an S500.

But it is good that you have many reasons to debadge a car