A question of caring
With the W211s, all that is done at AMG at Afalterbach is the manufacturing of the engine. The rest of the car is assembled on the regular line in Sindelfingen, just like the standard 320's and 500's.
Is it possible that the E55 requires more care in manufacturing than Mercedes Benz's current assembly strategy allows in order to maintain the quality (which had become extremely high) that the W210s enjoyed?




Mercedes has fallen to the back half of the pack with quality. They are not far from Hundai in quality right now. How does it feel to have a new Mercedes ranked below the likes of GM, Ford, and Subaru? Here is the JD Powers survey for 2003:
Porsche 193
Toyota 196
Honda 215
Nissan 258
BMW 262
General Motors 264
Subaru 266
Average 273
Ford 287
DaimlerChrysler 311
Mitsubishi 339
Hyundai 342
Isuzu 368
Volkswagen 378
Suzuki 403
Daewoo 421
Kia 509
Mercedes has fallen to the back half of the pack with quality. They are not far from Hundai in quality right now. How does it feel to have a new Mercedes ranked below the likes of GM, Ford, and Subaru? Here is the JD Powers survey for 2003:
Porsche 193
Toyota 196
Honda 215
Nissan 258
BMW 262
General Motors 264
Subaru 266
Average 273
Ford 287
DaimlerChrysler 311
Mitsubishi 339
Hyundai 342
Isuzu 368
Volkswagen 378
Suzuki 403
Daewoo 421
Kia 509
Keep in mind that the ratings for DaimlerChrysler include Chrysler, so it's not a very meaningful comparison in my view.
Today, my son pointed out how the last model of E55s had the body assembled in the main assembly plant for E class vehicles, but then that body was shipped to AMG for installation of the chassis and final inspection. Consequently, each vehicle got the careful AMG oversight.
With the W211s, all that is done at AMG at Afalterbach is the manufacturing of the engine. The rest of the car is assembled on the regular line in Sindelfingen, just like the standard 320's and 500's.
Is it possible that the E55 requires more care in manufacturing than Mercedes Benz's current assembly strategy allows in order to maintain the quality (which had become extremely high) that the W210s enjoyed?
As AMG used to be an individual tuner, but has since been aquired by MB, it was only a matter of time before MB pushed them into a more cost effective process. A similar analogy existed at BMW. The old original E30 M3 was hand crafted at BMW Motorsport. But since then, the E36 and E46 M3s were built right on the normal BMW assembly lines.


