Mercedes Moving C-Class Production To US

Took 37 posts before Germany was connected to Nazis! That's 37 too long! I'm disappointed Finalgear.
 
Cobol74 said:
Let me see Bremen - yea that is close to the UK - er not. More EU bollocks?
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As far as I know, cars still have to be imported via water to Britain, right?

Bremen (or rather Bremerhaven) is the biggest seaport in Germany for shipping cars overseas. The factory in Bremen is about 60 km away from that seaport. So the cars can be loaded on a train and carried directly to the ships within a day.

Sindelfingern, however, is in the south of Germany, near the Mercedes headquarters in Stuttgart. That's about 700 km away from Bremerhaven. It surely takes two days longer to carry the cars to Bremerhaven from there.

So from a logistical point of view it makes sense to concentrate the production near a seaport.

And yeah, it IS closer to the U.K.
 
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Spectre said:
I know for certain that the Mercedes C-Class has a cheap interior and is cheaply made. :p Certainly not up to the quality of older models.

Yet people buy them anyway.
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While I agree with you, that the interior of the C-Class in parts looks a bit cheap -- especially the center console --, I must strongly disagree with you saying they are cheaply made.

I'm saying this having just returned yesterday from a 600 km trip in the Mercedes C350 of my stepfather, which has 25.000 km on the odometer now and still feels like a bank vault. There are no creaks, no fizzes, no crackles even on the most worst of roads (although I must admit that our bad roads are still very good roads by Texan standards).

Also there has been nothing wrong with the car so far, except from a flattened battery due to my mother leaving the sidelights on, before they left for a holiday.

The only thing that is clearly better in higher models like the E-Class, is the noise insulation. There is a fair bit of wind noise in the C-Class. And of course the space in the back is limited (which is the reason why I drove and not my stepfather). Only entering the back is already an act worthy of a contortionist for people of my height and size.

I sometimes wonder, Spectre, if all of your non-Jaaaag-related assessments are really all based on firsthand experience, or if at least a part of them is just hearsay, because at times they contradict so much to what I and other people experienced...

By the way: The C300 doesn't exist here. Is that the same 272 HP engine we have in the C350 here?
 
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^^I have spent time driving in the C300, and I'd say that is a fair assessment. It certainly looks like a god-awful cheap plasticy mess, but the build itself is strong.
 
MacGuffin said:
I sometimes wonder, Spectre, if all of your non-Jaaaag-related assessments are really all based on firsthand experience, or if at least a part of them is just hearsay, because at times they contradict so much to what I and other people experienced...
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Nope, if it is hearsay I usually disclaim it as such, as in "I have heard that..." or "There have been reports of..."
 
I don't know what you guys are all on about but this can only be good news. The last few C-classes I've been in made me want to go back to the Mazda 3's I was sitting in just a few minutes prior.

We have a smiley for BMW and shit, but where is the Mercedes badge in shit? I think the latter is far more suiting.
 
It's matter of perception, no matter how much better the build quality is somewhere other than place of origin, you'll always think 'If it's made in Germany (substitute for wherever), it's better'. It's like a placebo effect, why do you think they have big o'll signs in electronic stores going 'MADE IN JAPAN', it's because when it comes down to it, you'd rather think of intelligent well trained individuals building your stuff rather then lazy union workers who don't give a rats ass about build quality. Now that may not be the cause as is with Mercedes Benz and BMW since they hire non UAW workers but as said before; it's what you think is hapenning.

Mitlov said:
I think a car's national character is defined by where it's designed, not by where it's assembled. Anyway, much of the assembly is done by robots, who have no nationality.
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If that's the case then all cars are Japanese :lol: (or German - Bosch)
 
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As long as we still get our own C class from P.E and German/Euro spec AMG models from Europe, I'm happy : )

The change of production plant means very little to South Africans, which means I can still buy Mercedes in the future :p :p
 
LeMans GTR said:
It's matter of perception, no matter how much better the build quality is somewhere other than place of origin, you'll always think 'If it's made in Germany (substitute for wherever), it's better'. It's like a placebo effect, why do you think they have big o'll signs in electronic stores going 'MADE IN JAPAN', it's because when it comes down to it, you'd rather think of intelligent well trained individuals building your stuff rather then lazy union workers who don't give a rats ass about build quality. Now that may not be the cause as is with Mercedes Benz and BMW since they hire non UAW workers but as said before; it's what you think is hapenning.
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Another reason that perception does not equal reality: aren't auto workers in Germany unionized?
 
Of course they are. But we have no closed shop policy -- so it's up to everyone, if they want to join the union or not -- and the unions here are actually real unions and not camouflaged mafias, like the UAW.

And about the C-Class: You always have to consider, that the C-Class is actually the follower of the Mercedes 190, the so-called "Baby Benz". Until the 1980's, the smallest Mercedes was the W123 middle class (the one James May has chosen for the Botswana trip).

So the C-Class of today still suffers a bit from that image of not being a "real Mercedes", even though nowadays there is the A-Class and the B-Class, which are rather undesirable cars.

Actually the "real Mercedeses" still start with the E-Class.
 
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MacGuffin said:
Of course they are. But we have no closed shop policy -- so it's up to everyone, if they want to join the union or not -- and the unions here are actually real unions and not camouflaged mafias, like the UAW.

And about the C-Class: You always have to consider, that the C-Class is actually the follower of the Mercedes 190, the so-called "Baby Benz". Until the 1980's, the smallest Mercedes was the W123 middle class (the one James May has chosen for the Botswana trip).

So the C-Class of today still suffers a bit from that image of not being a "real Mercedes", even though nowadays there is the A-Class and the B-Class, which are rather undesirable cars.

Actually the "real Mercedeses" still start with the E-Class.
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Yeah, except the perception is that the 190E/W201 was actually a real Mercedes... shrunk down a bit, but still a 'real' Mercedes. It helped that it shared a lot of parts with its bigger S-class sibling. It had the same look, feel and overall quality of the larger Mercs. Basically it was simply an S-class writ small.

The C-class has never lived up to that heritage. Quite disappointing and sad, really. To this day, the 190E is on my "recommended buy" list, while you couldn't give me a C-Class.
 
Spectre said:
Yeah, except the perception is that the 190E/W201 was actually a real Mercedes... shrunk down a bit, but still a 'real' Mercedes. It helped that it shared a lot of parts with its bigger S-class sibling. It had the same look, feel and overall quality of the larger Mercs. Basically it was simply an S-class writ small.

The C-class has never lived up to that heritage. Quite disappointing and sad, really. To this day, the 190E is on my "recommended buy" list, while you couldn't give me a C-Class.
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I never had the pleasure of driving a W201, even if one of my mum's friends used to own one. But It always had the image of a barge for elderly people, rather than a nimble small saloon for youngsters, which always made it lose against the BMW 3-series in car reviews...

Thus at its time, the 190/W201 was considered a very uncool car.
 
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