Designo Colours

[glojo]

As Mercedes are concentrating on luxury, they have basically copied BMW's M Performance concept. Certain cars are available to order in Europe through the Center of Excellence, and can be configured any way you want them.

@glojo You can, on certain models order and spec them exactly as you want for a premium price of course. The dealer should refer you to this program, MBUK don't seem to like it as it cuts them out of the loop, hence why its not pushed. You can of course contact them directly.

Mercedes-Benz Center of Excellence.

Yesterday I sent off my third email to the centre of excellence, certainly not a centre for excellent communication. Unimog supplied that link Mercedes-Benz Customer Services also supplied the same link but I find it ridiculous that no dealer has any knowledge? Surely the car would get the designo colour at the point of manufacture

 

[unimog]

Yesterday I sent off my third email to the centre of excellence, certainly not a centre for excellent communication. Unimog supplied that link Mercedes-Benz Customer Services also supplied the same link but I find it ridiculous that no dealer has any knowledge? Surely the car would get the designo colour at the point of manufacture

MBUK and the dealers want you to buy from their menu. This is why Centre of Excellence is a bit of a secret. I would suggest contacting central London dealers or maybe MB Brooklands, they seem to have a greater proportion of HNWI clients whom want this sort of thing.

I wanted a 2021 G400d but at that price I told the dealer I did not want anything MBUK had to offer. I pointed out that the instagram posse are running MK (MBUK) registered Merc's in unavailable colour schemes and if they want a sale that's what I want, no bullshit. So they took my notes and referred me to the Centre of Excellence, car isn't due until May however, about a 9 month lead but this is due to demand at the Graz factory.

My colour choice was in either classic Blue Black or Black Opal (MB heritage colours only for me, but they will paint the car any colour you want), and option wise I wanted no privacy glass (not available in UK), winter pack including space heater and heated armrests (not available in UK), underbody protection kit (again, not in the UK) and Macchiato interior with black dinamica headliner and black carpets (none standard configuration, beige carpet being not practical in rural England) and other options such as not so bling wheels and no bright chrome which isn't available on none AMG UK G wagens.

All my communication is through the UK dealer thus far.

This is an 'Insta famous' GT delivered by the centre of excellence, Gulf Racing blue, its sold as anything is possible:

 

[glojo]

Hi Unimog
I have been pulling my hair out trying to contact the Centre of Excellence. I keep losing my bottle when it comes to phoning them and if I find their number, I will bite the bullet.

I listen to what you are saying and are you suggesting I simply contact someone like MB Brookland, get through to the Sales Team?

My experience thus far is that main dealers simply tell me I can have one of the E-class listed designo colours.

MBUK really got their knickers in a twist when I spoke to them and they assure me that customer research dictates what they make available and I could only have models they list and only the options they list. They then tried telling me we could not import a new car!! yeh, right.

On Monday I will try MB Brookland and fingers crossed they can help. I personally do not understand why this idiotic mystery. If this secretive Centre of Excellence can order ANY coloured car we want, why does this not apply to any other dealer? Surely all orders are placed via a computer so who cares where that computer has its home? Grrrrrr

 

[unimog]

I will not use the words I want to on a public forum but I strongly suspect this is Brexit/politico related. My build is 1st week of May 2021, but my cut off day for spec changes is 31st December 2020, (how convenient is that, one would expect something might happen around that date?!?!) the car was ordered in early August. It usually is possible to change up until 2 weeks before production so this sort of confirmed my suspicions some ******* is a foot here.

The paint cost you quoted is about right, either of my choices which are MB colours are about £7K inc vat. All the options are very pricey as they are outside of packages, I would say its close to what the Germans pay in total. I built my car on the German site and gave them the QR code.

I also suspect it affects dealer margins hence why they only want to sell what they have or what they will have been allocated. Forward sales are bad for figures.

 

[unimog]

But yes, tell them (Brooklands) that you want something that's not available in the standard line up and would like to explore ordering from the customer centre of excellence.

I know they do this for G, GLS, S and GT class cars but I would have thought they also offer it for most of the cars especially given the price point of your chosen car. On the Centre of Excellence website they show A classes in custom colours so there clearly is a market for it.

 

[Skd884]

Got close to ordering my BS in DMB when i ordered it in 2012 but the extended delivery time meant it was not to be.

Was quoted circa £5k back then iirc.

 

[glojo]

I will not use the words I want to on a public forum but I strongly suspect this is Brexit/politico related. My build is 1st week of May 2021, but my cut off day for spec changes is 31st December 2020, (how convenient is that, one would expect something might happen around that date?!?!) the car was ordered in early August. It usually is possible to change up until 2 weeks before production so this sort of confirmed my suspicions some ******* is a foot here.

The paint cost you quoted is about right, either of my choices which are MB colours are about £7K inc vat. All the options are very pricey as they are outside of packages, I would say its close to what the Germans pay in total. I built my car on the German site and gave them the QR code.

I also suspect it affects dealer margins hence why they only want to sell what they have or what they will have been allocated. Forward sales are bad for figures.

I have to be careful how I respond to your post purely because when replying to a forum member who mentioned possible issues with BREXIT, I was guilty of saying how I could take it or leave it. So........... Referring to your comments about what cannot be named: I honestly do not suspect any type of conspiracy theory. I respect your views and hear what you say but build dates are build dates and we just have to accept them for what they are. In the early summer of 2019, I ordered our E-class from a UK dealer and was given the earliest build date of December and more likely January. In December a revised edition of the E-class was released and my order went out the window.

A few months later I then re-ordered an E-class vehicle from Europe with a build date of March\April. This order is for the new, and very popular hybrid model so a longer build time might be expected. I do however take on board what you are saying regarding that spec-change cut-off date, I have not yet been given one and only recently added the front video camera, plus the very handy garage-door opening feature.

I CANNOT explain the ignorance\lack of knowledge regarding Designo. It has left me bamboozled. The UK dealer I spoke to was interested, but at first, doubted my claim regarding the alleged choices for designo colours. I had to send them a link to convince them but they still failed miserably when asked to find out more information. All they did was contact Mercedes-Benz UK which to me is a self-serving empire whose only interest is making life easier for themselves. I was simply given those three or four designo colours that are offered for the E-class. I next put the challenge out to Mercedes-Benz Customer Services which I believe is based in Holland. Once again I had to describe what Mercedes has wrote about Designo and after doing this, the operator kindly told me they would contact their supervisor and look into what is available. A week later they sent me the link to that Centre of Excellence and a quote for just one colour which we did not want.

I will be contacting Brookland and using your words to ask the question. I am also wondering if the order would have to be placed with the 'Centre of Excellence' although to answer that question, I would suggest it would make no sense. My simple way of looking at things is that an order is placed with a dealer, they then submit that order to 'whoever'. Does that order then go to the manufacturer, who then uses their very own magic box of tricks that instructs multiple computers\robots, to build\assemble\paint the vehicle?

I am being worn down by the challenge and am slowly beginning to ask myself, 'Why bother'? If Mercedes are not interested in taking my money, why should I be spending hours trying to force them to take it. Yes, I want to steer away from black, silver or any shade in between but when is enough, enough?

Hi Skd
I cannot reply to your comments as I have no idea what 'BS' or 'DMB' stand for. I know that some folk are full of 'BS' but I doubt you mean that

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Hi Skd
I cannot reply to your comments as I have no idea what 'BS' or 'DMB' stand for. I know that some folk are full of 'BS' but I doubt you mean that

BS is in the know short hand for Black Series, hardcore version of AMG models. DMB is Designo Mystic Blue, a stunning deep blue colour.

 

[Wolfie1]

It wasnt deigno colours for me, but because of their fixed model add ons they lost a sale from me too, ( i wanted black exterior trim with a red leather interior) i am currently awaiting a new jag to arrive, got it exactly the way i want it without any compromises

 

[glojo]

BS is in the know short hand for Black Series, hardcore version of AMG models. DMB is Designo Mystic Blue, a stunning deep blue colour.

Thanks Bobby
I am no fan of acronyms as they can mean anything to anyone but as you have suggested, those in the know, know TTAT

Or Til Tomorrow At Ten

 

[glojo]

ANGER, ANGER, RAGE, Rage!!!!

I will be as polite as I can but be aware I am EXTREMELY frustrated.

First off, I was busy yesterday and my memory is not as good as I would wish, so here we are 24hrs later

First off I get a call from Mercedes-Benz Customer Services, they wanted to know if my issue had been resolved to my satisfaction!!!! is this April 1st?

I politely explain that 'NO' it has not and I then stated how I had now ordered our car from belgium.

They then wanted to know if I had spoken with a UK dealer, and yes, I had. They then said they would take my dispute up with the English dealer??

I then explained how that dealer was no better and certainly NO worse than either Mercedes-Benz Customer Services, or the dealership in Belgium.

After that I let rip about how it was very strange that the Centre of Excellence uses a Mercedes-Benz.com web address but it appears that no dealer or even Mercedes-Benz customer Services had ever heard of this location. I then read out the FULL web address for the Centre of Excellence for this person but their computer would always go to the default Mercedes site!! "Leave it with me and I will get back to you!"

In a way I feel sorry for my local dealer as they lost me as a customer but I am stall haunting them What a shame

After this call I remembered the post by Unimog, I confess to not having much faith in any type of result, but if I ask a question, the very least I can do is listen to the answer.

I got through to a very nice young lady in the sales department of MB Brookland, she did not know the answer but put me on hold whilst she tried to get that information I am desperate to hear.

A few minutes later, "Yes sir, we can indeed get any colour you want but it will have to be a factory order!"

I felt guilty as I have already ordered the car and could not really go any further with this enquiry apart from asking the cost.

WHAT IS GOING ON????? How comes Mercedes-Benz Customer Services cannot find out this information? How come any smaller dealership cannot find out this information and I say 'smaller' but we need to all understand that Mercedes-Benz South0

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Non-standard colours have been debated for years. They are rare because of the cost, which leads the factory, the dealer, and the finance companies to prefer silver, black and grey. It's cheaper to mass produce silver and it's easier to resell.

If you see a rare colour, it typically came to the UK as a Halo Demonstrator / Press car, or as the result of a private client ordering six months in advance.

Likewise production lead-times have always been long for factory orders. Regardless of some minor local political difficulties, schedules are booked 6 - 12 months in advance.

Walk through the German car factories and you'll see that South East Asia orders are as big as all of the EU. And the higher spec cars, in colour and luxury, carry job tickets that say they're off to China.

Here's the 2019 unit sales numbers from MB.

 

[glojo]

Whenever we have ordered a new vehicle we have always experienced an approximate wait time of about six months, this is not anything new and has always been the norm. (As was the bouquet of flowers for my wife and my bottle of rum)

If you are suggesting the press\motoring journalists are given cars to test that were an unusual colour, then surely that just creates problems of the manufacturers own making? If I see a review of a model in a colour I like, then might I suggest this will only lead to confrontation\aggravation? Not everyone likes the choice of black or silver and when they see a completely different colour, then maybe they might want it. I think back to when cars were sprayed with oil-based paints, then we the customer, had a multitude of colours to choose from. Now they are water-based and probably the robots are easier to clean, we are being forced to mainly choose black or silver!!!

In today's climate, the sales of new cars have dropped dramatically, so surely dealers will be prepared to go the extra mile to get that customer signing on the proverbial dotted line?

I now know that Mercedes-Benz can supply a new vehicle in any colour a customer wants. That to me is now a fact, so if a customer comes into my showroom and states they want a new car in tealite blue, then do I say, "No sir, I'm very sorry, you can only have black or silver"

Or do I say, "Certainly sir, would you and your wife like a cup of coffee whilst we discuss your order?"

I am not sure but I think the call I had this morning from Mercedes-Benz Customer Services is either the fourth or fifth. They are definitely not making things easier for themselves. They will be writing to at the very least, the dealer in Exeter and yes I will be letting them know about Mercedes-Benz Brookland, again generating more 'paperwork' to be added to this file. Plus, we mustn't forget my supplying dealer, I know for certain they have been pestering Mercedes-Benz Belgium for an answer regarding this mysterious 'Centre of Excellence'

I am NOT happy. I hate being told untruths and I hate being given the run-around.

 

[DavE400]

Hi Alfie,
So nice to hear from you. The Linguatronic is still working perfectly

Thank you very much Whitenemesis, I just hope the words in your link will do the trick.

I have asked about metallic beige or champagne gold but they say neither are available and simply suggest a shade of blooming silver Nothing wrong silver

When you were seeking a champange gold colour did you mean Aragonite Silver Metallic which I had on my 2014 E Class and also on more recent E Classes when I was looking to update, it was/is a great colour

 

[glojo]

When you were seeking a champange gold colour did you mean Aragonite Silver Metallic which I had on my 2014 E Class and also on more recent E Classes when I was looking to update, it was/is a great colour

Hmmm your colour might be worth looking at. If I can get a colour, then it might be something like those two SL cars, one is allegedly Sandy Beige, the other Champagne. failing that, I guess there is nothing wrong with Tealite blue

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Good luck with your order. It's curious that you think that the car industry runs on the profits from private client new car sales. Some say that ended in the 1980's but realistically it was a decade or two before that.

 

[glojo]

Good luck with your order. It's curious that you think that the car industry runs on the profits from private client new car sales. Some say that ended in the 1980's but realistically it was a decade or two before that.

Hi Mike
I have submitted quite a few posts on this thread and I guess in my old age I must have missed the post you are referring to. Can you please direct me to it as I am sure you would not assume anything, or perish the thought....... Make something up that has not been said?

 

[tonysmb]

Have a look on www.motor1.com then use their search option for 'designo' - an article from July 2020 stating that MB will paint in any colour.

Unfortunately, I can't post a link to it.

 

[glojo]

Have a look on www.motor1.com then use their search option for 'designo' - an article from July 2020 stating that MB will paint in any colour.

Unfortunately, I can't post a link to it.

WHAT AN EXCELLENT LINK, May the Gods give you more children than you ever dreamed of having

The expanded Designo Manufaktur customization program means more options.​

The Mercedes-Benz Designo customization program has been a big hit since the company made it official in 2015. This year alone, Mercedes saw demand for its made-to-order options increase by nearly 200 percent. But while once limited to the G-Class exclusively, now buyers of Mercedes-Benz models like the E-Class, S-Class, and AMG GT two-door models can take advantage of the custom offerings part of Designo Manufaktur program. And today, that portfolio expands even further.
Now Benz buyers can dig through the Mercedes history books and select from either recently retired paint jobs or classic paint options from historic models dating as far back as the 1950s and 1960s, as well as colors available on other models. Those so bold can even request paint from other manufacturers (depending on availability). That's right, you could theoretically drive off in an AMG GT R wearing Dodge's Plum Crazy or an S63 in Lexus' sharp Nori Green Pearl.

Email sent to the dealership in Belgium

 

[tonysmb]

According to my R230 book, the following beige colours were available for that model SL: Travertine Beige (also known as Desert Silver) 2001-2006, paint code 693 and Perlbeige (Pearl Beige) 2009-2011, code 794.