AMG Factory Tour in Affalterbach and Sindelfingen
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Joined: Apr 2009
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From: Portland, OR
'21 E63 Wagon, '24 EQS AMG
AMG Factory Tour in Affalterbach and Sindelfingen
WOW. I just completed these two tours today. I was in Switzerland for work, and decided to drive up to Stuttgart for the tours. They were awesome. I strongly encourage any of you, if you have a newish AMG model, register with the AMG lounge and then book a tour. Especially if you're an American. They have not seen any American visitors, since me, for almost 12 months. And according to my tour guide, the USA is an extremely important market. I got the VIP treatment.
Before you go, COVID control is taken extremely seriously in Germany (and all of Europe.) If you are not vaccinated, you cannot take the tour. Also, contract tracing is mandatory throughout Europe. I had to fill out contact info almost everywhere I went. If you are an anti-vax or anti-mask *******s, stay in the USA. You will not be welcome, anywhere.
Also, you must have a rental car. You cannot take a taxi or an uber to the plant. This is because you must drive between the two plants, and drive to the E-class line.
I unfortunately had a BMW as a rental. They were ... understanding. :-)
Some insights from my tour:
At the AMG Facility
auf Wiedersehen from Stuttgart
Before you go, COVID control is taken extremely seriously in Germany (and all of Europe.) If you are not vaccinated, you cannot take the tour. Also, contract tracing is mandatory throughout Europe. I had to fill out contact info almost everywhere I went. If you are an anti-vax or anti-mask *******s, stay in the USA. You will not be welcome, anywhere.
Also, you must have a rental car. You cannot take a taxi or an uber to the plant. This is because you must drive between the two plants, and drive to the E-class line.
I unfortunately had a BMW as a rental. They were ... understanding. :-)
Some insights from my tour:
At the AMG Facility
- Affalterbach is a tiny little city. The AMG facilities are rather large, but are surrounded with corn fieilds!
- The engine build process is insane. They show you the whole process (but no picture taking).
- The tour guides are absolute technical wizards. They know everything about every engine, down to the most obscure detail. My guide gave me an exhaustive description of how they manage heat dissipation in the turbos, especially the newer ones on the I6 engine.
- You cannot meet you engine builder anymore, but this is due to COVID restrictions.
- There are just so many cool things to look at. I was tired after just an hour!
- I mentioned the V8 hold in the USA, this was an extremely sensitive topic. The AMG facility shut down for months during COVID lockdowns and a lot of people were out of work. This caused a lot of hardship. The suspension of V8s to the USA has everybody scared that this will cause layoffs or more shutdowns. There is a push to get newer, more advanced versions of the I6 and I4 engines to the USA.
- No pictures in the engine building lines!
- When people joke that Germans are hyper-detailed and process-oriented - it is true. Only the Germans could develop the "one-man, one engine" system and make it so reliable. When you see every tiny little detail of the process, its breathtaking in its complexity and elegance.
- Make sure you book your tour well in advance and through the AMG Lounge. The factory does not give tours in English, except for AMG owners.
- The gift shop at the Customer Center is ... intimidating. I could have spent $1000 euros there with ease.
- AMG owners are treated like royalty. You will get a personal guide and escorted around. The people on the floor are super nice as well. For you wagon owners, make sure to let the people know you have a E63 "T-Model." People's faces will light up with happiness. The wagon is revered here.
- No pictures on the line. You can't even have your phone out of your pocket.
- They build the E63s right on the same line with every other model. It was weird but the line has every E-class variant all intermixed. From GT43s, CLSs, E63 wagons, Sedans...everything except the Coupe or Cabriolet which are made elsewhere.
- Not only is every E-class type intermixed, but so are right and left hand drive cars. The workers have exactly the tools, and parts they need when they begin a task. For example, the seats come down on an elevator and are there ready to install - they're the correct type and color without the assembly line worker needing to check what to install.
- Watching them build the cars is mesmerizing. It's like a finely choreographed dance, except computers and robots are involved.
- You only get to see the finishing line, and not the painting or the "wedding" area where the engine/drivetrain are mated to the chassis.
- They randomly pull 1 type of car from every shift and drive it around and run additional checks on it.
- The level of safety checking they do on these cars is insane. It made me feel a LOT better about owning a Mercedes.
- Oh and I got to watch an E63 wagon, in Brilliant Blue Magno (just like my color) get finished on the line. It was awesome.
auf Wiedersehen from Stuttgart
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2013 Audi S4
My jealously knows no bounds LOL. Glad you had such a great experience and thanks for the trip report. My dream was always to do European delivery for my wagon, but Covid killed that. At this rate I'll just count myself fortunate to get a wagon at all, and be able to visit the factories in the future when travel resumes a bit more.
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Joined: May 2017
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From: Southern California
2018 E63S AMG
Thanks for the report.
I really enjoyed the factory tour in Sindelfingen when we did our European Delivery pickup. Unfortunately given our planned European tour route we didn't make it to Affalterbach on that trip. I traveled to Europe regularly for work so figured I'd be able to work that tour in at some point down the road. Didn't count on CV-19.
After years of traveling 100+ k miles a year it's been really weird to not have been on an airplane in a year and a half.
I really enjoyed the factory tour in Sindelfingen when we did our European Delivery pickup. Unfortunately given our planned European tour route we didn't make it to Affalterbach on that trip. I traveled to Europe regularly for work so figured I'd be able to work that tour in at some point down the road. Didn't count on CV-19.
After years of traveling 100+ k miles a year it's been really weird to not have been on an airplane in a year and a half.
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Joined: Feb 2009
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From: Ohio
AMG E63 Hammer Wagon. Alfa, Rover, Ferrari, Porsche.
Wow that's amazing, thanks so much for sharing in such detail. Super jealous you got to see the AMG V8's being made and W213's rolling down the line. I was hoping to do euro delivery as well and still hope to visit someday soon, but at that point it's not likely that our E63 wagons will still be in production...
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Joined: Nov 2018
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From: San Francisco Bay Area
2019 C63CS
Nice write-up. Yes, I was there in 2019 doing my European Delivery. They have a separate area in Sindelfingen for AMG, CLS and S Class customers to pick up their cars and they only do 8 deliveries a day. 4 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. They indeed treat you like royalty and serve a three course meal for lunch. We were eating right next to a GT R Pro on display. Everybody else has to pick up their cars in the general delivery area. Just such a shame that ED is no more. The private tour in Affalterbach was indeed awesome. Personal guide for everything. The guide was a bit disappointed that I spoke fluent German...haha as he wanted to practice his English, and everybody was kinda confused when I spoke German to them while picking up the car. They weren't quite sure if I was there for an European Delivery. I can only imagine the hardship over there. With everything going electric, a lot of these folks are gonna be out of a job soon. Some can retrain, but it takes a much smaller workforce to build electric cars.
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2010 M3 E90- sold, 2013 c63 sedan p31 eurocharghed V5, 2016 c63 s 2019 F Pace SVR 2021 E63S
Sounds like a great trip. You didn’t happen to see a E63S T roll by on the E Class line by any chance ??? Mine still missing. 🙁
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From: Seattle
'19 E63S, ‘16 CLS63 RIP, '09 E63 Gone, '06 M5 Gone, '97 Supra TT Gone
Great post OP. I'm just north of PDX across the river, if you see someone in a Selenite Gray E63 Sedan yelling obscenities at you one day it will be me because I'll know its you. There can't be more than one blue magno wagon in the metro.
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From: SoCal
W213 E53 | 992 C2 | G20 330i
I did the Sindelfingen tour back in May of 16 but I was still a BMW/Porsche owner at that time and was relegated to the standard tourist tours in a group of about 15 or so. We first toured the S-Class Sedan body shop then the final assembly line for the E Class hall. I got to see the W213's before they reached the US. The Merc museum in Unterturkheim is really beautiful and well done. Takes the cake over BMW's museum in Munich.
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From: Portland, OR
'21 E63 Wagon, '24 EQS AMG
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car
@Quackledork Thank you for the write up! I was in Stuttgart-Untertukheim in 2001 where the Truck group is located, and I was a guest since I own a company with a large number of Freightliner trucks. When the truck meetings ended, I told them that I was a 1-car AMG customer, and they made immediate arrangements and took me on the test track in Unterturkheim in an S-klass which was pretty awesome followed with a visit to Sindlefingen (30min drive) and a meeting with the plant manager. I was expecting them to give me a free car since I have spent so much money buying trucks from them, but no!!! All I got was a tour and a hat.
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From: North CA
2021 E63S and 2025 GT63
AMG factory tour is highly recommended - lots of good info about our mighty engines.
there were even boxes of apples offered all over the place during my center of excellence delivery two year’s ago
thanks for detailed report!
there were even boxes of apples offered all over the place during my center of excellence delivery two year’s ago
thanks for detailed report!
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Joined: Feb 2020
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From: Fla
The horses are now in the barn, 2019 E63s
Great post, thanks for sharing. Once I get my AMG and the 'rona subsides a bit I'll be taking a trip across the pond for my tours. My original ED order and trip was dashed last year when the factory shutdown and then in Nov of the same year EDP for the US market when down in flames so I'm relieved to know that I can still get those tours I missed a year ago.
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From: Atlanta Metro
Current: C217 V12TT AMG Previously: C55 AMG, SL65 AMG
Awesome experience. I also was able to do the AMG tour about (egh...) now nearly a decade ago (egh...). It was funny because at the time they were doing a partnership/promotion with a mountain bike company and our tour guide stated "yes, this mountain bike is one of the BEST ones out there right now" and coincidentally, my friend that I went with (who happened to be really big into mountain biking with crazy $ bikes) said "yea, I guess it's ok....mine is better" with a level of seriousness. The tour guide was shocked and uncomfortable at the same time because well...how often do you run into a real mountain biker? Funny way to start off the tour 
At the time, I was driving my C55 and had just crossed over the 120k mile mark. So when she asked what AMG I drove, I said I drive a C55 with over 200,000 km's. Her eyes got big "200k!!!! Wow! Most of our customers don't go over 100!" I sold that C55 with 218k, if they only knew.
The SL65 was always a "pinnacle" car for me, with that glorious V12TT. During the tour, we were able to see one of their long term testing dynos and sure enough, they had a V12TT going through a cycle. Glowing turbos. It was beautiful. I told them "I'll own one of those one day". I was finally able to pick up a used SL65 a couple years later.
For those that don't work in the automotive industry, seeing an automotive assembly plant is absolutely spectacular. It's just so incredible. I definitely recommend everyone to go to an automotive assembly plant and get a tour.
Thank you for this awesome read, it helped me recall the awesome experience I had myself.
At the time, I was driving my C55 and had just crossed over the 120k mile mark. So when she asked what AMG I drove, I said I drive a C55 with over 200,000 km's. Her eyes got big "200k!!!! Wow! Most of our customers don't go over 100!" I sold that C55 with 218k, if they only knew.
The SL65 was always a "pinnacle" car for me, with that glorious V12TT. During the tour, we were able to see one of their long term testing dynos and sure enough, they had a V12TT going through a cycle. Glowing turbos. It was beautiful. I told them "I'll own one of those one day". I was finally able to pick up a used SL65 a couple years later.
For those that don't work in the automotive industry, seeing an automotive assembly plant is absolutely spectacular. It's just so incredible. I definitely recommend everyone to go to an automotive assembly plant and get a tour.
Thank you for this awesome read, it helped me recall the awesome experience I had myself.
