HarvE55

I talked to a contact of mine at MBUSA today. I learned the following:

- No US deliveries of E55 will be done until May (I told him that some folks have seen E55's in California. He told me that it is highly unlikely that these were inports and said no deliveries have been made to the US at this point, although they are starting to build them).

- Pricing will be Mid to upper mid $70,000s and that, consistient with what we have seen on this forum, that it will have few included options. That the AMG team at MB wanted to keep the base price down so that high performance enthusiasts can get the car a "reasonable" price. The AMG team sees performance as its primary concern and the options a secondary part of the pricing formula.

- The May deliveries will be a 2003 model year.

- The 2004 production run for E55's will probably start in September and US deliveries would be at least 5 weeks after the start of production (I was told this is a current best estimate that may change).

- Currently, although subject to change, getting a Command/Nav on the 2003 will be unlikely

- For folks who want the car with out Nav, that the 2004's are currently planned to be the same as the 2003's. (I was told there might be some minor tweaking)

- MBUSA is real excited about getting these cars in the US market.

I don't know if I have the whole truth, but based on all the discussions on this board and others I've looked at, I am hoping that this is correct. I guess time will tell.

As for me, I have told my dealer I would like a 2004 with Nav. (This way I don't have to change anything about my "Corral" below.)

JamE55

Thanks for the update HarvE55! You got some great info. Although the price of mid to high $70+ is skeptical at this time. I know a few dealers out there are already talking about some markups on the first few deliveries. But then again it's the dealers game.

HarvE55

JamE55,

As best as I could tell there is truly no MSRP for the 2003 E55 today. As you said the dealers could ask anything. What my friend says makes sense to me.

Thanks

JamE55

HarvE55

Not arguing that. I'm just saying that MB could set the price around the mid $70+'s but by the time it hits the dealers lot their markups wouldn't really make the vehicles price feasible. This reminds me when i first got mine. Had to go through several dealers before i found one with no markup even though i had special ordered mine.

awiner

Interesting, since I was told just the opposite from my contact in MBUSA .

HarvE55

Since your a super moderator I'm sure you are right (Just Kidding!) What different info do you have??? Do you have any knowledge related to my other points?

awiner

Your other points sound about right from what we have all heard. The only varying difference is the VIP Deliveries some have seen.

E55 KEV

Jam, you have been having a hard time believing that the price will be mid $70k! All real US automotive journalist sources estimate $75k. That is the estimated price that will be set by MBUSA Headquarters in NJ as MSRP.

If dealers add an additinal dealer markup (ADM) that is not MBUSA that is greed from that particular dealer because initially he will have a couple cars and dozens of buyers, some with unlimited pockets, so the ADM will not matter to the wealthy in 90210.

The dealer markup will vary from dealer to dealer and some dealers will have no ADM. The hat trick will be to find those unique dealers like our member CME4BENZ in PA who says there first two cars allocations are not spoken for and to be sold at MSRP.

The main reason to place a deposit and a order is to obtain the car at MSRP without the ADM. Although I have read stories that when the car came in the dealer wanted to charge the additional ADM. I am quite sure that some of those stories will make it here - where a greedy dealer would not sell the car at MSRP as promised.

Once the cars come in the stories of high prices will be crazy. You will see $20k and up ADM's and private sellers asking well over $100k for low mileage titled used cars.

HarvE55

Awiner,

I hope you are right and I am wrong about VIP cars. I would love to get to look at some. My contact was pretty adamant that they could not be US E55's. His thought was these are re-badged imposters.

BTW, I have a copy of the 2003 E55 options list that was faxed to me. I have scanned them and tried to attach, but the system won't let me. Any thouughts?

JamE55

No argument here KEV. Just doesn't make sense about the price of the W209 55 and the W211 55 are so close. Guess we'll all just have to wait and see.

E55 KEV

$5k difference. not that close.

2003 CLK55 $69k base
2003 E55 $74k base

JamE55

So basically for another $5k i can have a 4-door? Close enough!

E55 KEV

HarvE55, your contact was probably correct in that there are probably no US production model in the country yet. There are probably a few test mules and pre-production cars running around. The car just featured in the Car&Driver, March, has MFR - manufactors plates and the front plate is the Euro type and the speedo is kilometers. The mileage is 5310 Miles.

Also all cars must meet EPA road testing and certification prior to going on sale and the road test takes months.

AMGB

To All,

So what everbody is hearing is that the there will be NO command system in the first production of the E55. I got a build date of 3rd tri-mester May. I want the Navigation. I also want bluetooth. Does this mean I need to tell the dealer to move me down the list to the first 2004 model? I am so disappointed if that is the case. But I waited 17 months, I guess I can wait another 6 to get the exact car that I want.

Will the dealer move me down the list, or should I sell my spot on ebay and try to get in line again? I am in So. Cal.

amgB

HarvE55

I moved my spot to a 2004 model. My dealer understood that I didn't want a car like this w/o Nav. and didn't want to own a "new" car that was only new for a few months. I am anxious for my new car, but have decided to wait.

jmeyers

I spoke to my "old friend" at MBUSA today, and he basically confirmed what HarvE55 has said with a couple of wrinkles. First, the DVD navigation system is going to be roadtested on an E55 in the New York area over the next two weeks and, if found satisfactory, will be released for production. That means it is just possible that a very few people will receive their 2003 E55's with the DVD navigation system. (By the way, the CD-ROM version is no longer available.)

I also learned that Designo variants will not be available until the 2004 model.

HarvE55

The beauty of this forum is that in total we can get the best knowledge and updates to what we are looking for.

I hope the test works and that at least some 2003 E55's come with Nav.