E55Freak

I saw this, this morning.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/31/Auto...ex.htm?cnn=yes

SL60 ///AMG

Nothing to do with the R129. Poor R230 owners... :p

SilverSL500

"SL made since June 2001". Sounds like R129s to me. It just misses my in service date.

S

SL60 ///AMG

No, I quote ....

DaimlerChrysler Press Text, July 2nd 2001
"Bremen/Stuttgart – The last roadster from the current generation Mercedes-Benz SL-Class — an SL 500 in "obsidian black" — will come off the assembly line in DaimlerChrysler’s Bremen plant today. More than 200,000 units of the current series have been produced in Bremen since the vehicle celebrated its world premiere at the Geneva Auto Show in 1989, making the SL-Class roadster the most successful vehicle in its segment worldwide"

The production of R230 started in June 2001 on the new production line.

SilverSL500

So all the 2002 SL's were made before June of 2001. That's very interesting. I figured there would be some concurrent models being built in 2002, but...

Thanks for the update. My tidbit of MB life for the day

Wintermute

Oddly enough, the W140 S-Class experienced a similar departure. In Europe, the W220 S-Class was actually available for the 1999 model year. Americans, however, were still able to purchase the W140, but their product would have been manufactured in 1998.

On an unrelated note, SBC has been a tremendous expense for Mercedes-Benz. Whoever proposed the addition of that technological innovation -- no, seriously, it is -- must regret it now.

SilverSL500

Evidently there is an "International Year Line" somewhere in the Atlantic, similiar to the International Date Line in the Pacific.

SL60's post would have made perfect sense, if it had been dated exactly one year later.

That would make the first 2003 R230 a 2001 model? Hmmm

blueSL

There was a significant changeover period after the end of R129 production. It was at least three months before series R230 production stareted. I saw evidence of how they do it with the old and new SLK production when I visited Bremen. There, they first condensed the line into half the space to make space for the new line which was going in. Piles of lighting, jigs, parts storage all being installed for the new car.

As for the recall, it applies to the new SL only. Even though the engine was carried over, the R230 SL uses a new power management circuit (dual batteries), so maybe it's that under scrutiny.