Poor quality of Mercedes cars dents profits

[Maff]

From Friday's Financial Times - will be interesting to read:

 

[GregE240]

Nice one Maff, heres the link:

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/7ca1289a-28cb-11d9-836c-00000e2511c8.html

Greg

 

[John Peerce]

Although as Mercedes owner I feel I should not be happy to read such news, but in a strange way I am. Maybe this is the jolt that will wake Mercedes up and make them realise their mistakes, and go back to building quality cars of the early nineties and before (but i doubt it).

I am bitter ofcourse, having spent thousands of pounds on my car in repairs since i got it two years ago.

The ONE thing which mercedes had (the rock of its foundation) was quality/reliability. And they managed to pi$$ that away.

 

[DITTRICH]

...I too am not holding my breath waiting for improvements. My dad's 2.0 190e has NEVER gone wrong. I wish I could say the same for my W202 c230k. I wish i'd bought a W124 now.
Les

 

[mark.t]

price

The profit drop at Mercedes follows its admission earlier this year that the luxury cars, historically known for their reliability and steady earnings, were prone to breakdown. It will come as a heavy blow to Daimler as cash from Mercedes sustained the company through several years of losses at its Chrysler and heavy truck divisions, both now profitable.








oh no this could affect the second hand price of later models they better get there act together soon ....bet ya all the second hand dealers have it framed in there offices

 

[glojo]

Although as Mercedes owner I feel I should not be happy to read such news, but in a strange way I am. Maybe this is the jolt that will wake Mercedes up and make them realise their mistakes, and go back to building quality cars of the early ninties and before (but i doubt it).

Totally agree. I understand that their modern cars are full of electronic wizardry, BUT Mercedes-Benz are Mercedes-Benz and quality is expected.

Aston Martin, Bentley, Rolls Royce etc are all suffering reliability problems but they are not the subject of this forum.

Regards,
John

 

[glojo]

From Friday's Financial Times - will be interesting to read:

Hi Maff,
The article makes interesting reading, but what do you make of the reference


""The bulk of the problem will be resolved in 2004 and 2005,” he said. But he insisted cars now rolling off production lines meet quality standards.

Mercedes suffered this year from delays to the launch of the C-Class executive saloon and the small A-Class in order to ensure quality, and the M-Class offroader will also be late to market when it goes on sale next summer."""

They are referring surely to vehicles that have now been in production for a number of years??????

I accept a report can be 12 months 'out of date', but the reference to the C and ML are 'interesting'. I do not think they are referring to the very latest revised C class. Do you?

Thanks for the link, which I believe has started to take effect, and quality is improving.

Regards,
John

 

[Aletank]

Mercedes suffered this year from delays to the launch of the C-Class executive saloon and the small A-Class in order to ensure quality, and the M-Class offroader will also be late to market when it goes on sale next summer."""

They are referring surely to vehicles that have now been in production for a number of years??????

I accept a report can be 12 months 'out of date', but the reference to the C and ML are 'interesting'. I do not think they are referring to the very latest revised C class. Do you?

I took it they mean the 2004 Facelift of the C-Class onwards and the next generation ML (2005) and the latest A-Class facelift, Have they had one These should be back up to the standard expected !!
I would of thought the latest W211 E-Class was up to standard already.

 

[gary350]

You need to select a time when MBs were top quality and then reason why, I remember mercs in the late fifties and sixties that were absloute rubbish, complete rust buckets, seventies getting better. Perhaps the problem lies in the number of different models and types now being produced, maybe they have a problem looking after the amounts of vehicles they now have coming off the production lines each one slightly different and full of electronic wizardry from a mulitude of companies. In recent years the definition of quality was more or less "good enough" and "fit for purpose" wrong, for the prices we pay it has to be far better than that. 5 Ss, Six sigma, Supply Excellence, all sounds great but is it.

gary "moan of the day friday south wales in the rain 12:00"

 

[John Peerce]

Here is a link with more details (scroll down to see the bar chart by car model)

http://www.jdpower.com/news/releases/pressrelease.asp?ID=2004055

(mind you, i cant believe how low Volvo also comes out, trust an American company (Ford) to buy a solid swedish car brand and screw it up. I should add that a friend bough a new Aston Martin (owned by ford) about a year ago, sold it 6 months later complaining of problems and "bit were falling of the dashboard" !!)

 

[RichardM]

I took it they mean the 2004 Facelift of the C-Class onwards and the next generation ML (2005) and the latest A-Class facelift, Have they had one These should be back up to the standard expected !!

I took it to mean that too, the new A Class has been pictured in many magazine's and must be starting production soon.

 

[glojo]

Here is a link with more details (scroll down to see the bar chart by car model)

http://www.jdpower.com/news/releases/pressrelease.asp?ID=2004055

(mind you, i cant believe how low Volvo also comes out, trust an American company (Ford) to buy a solid swedish car brand and screw it up)

Hi John
Thanks for the link, it looks like it confirms my suspicions,

"""The 2004 Vehicle Dependability Study is based on responses from more than 48,000 original owners of 2001 model-year cars and light trucks""".

Regards,
John

 

[Dieselman]

Hi Maff,

""The bulk of the problem will be resolved in 2004 and 2005,” he said. But he insisted cars now rolling off production lines meet quality standards.

Mercedes suffered this year from delays to the launch of the C-Class executive saloon and the small A-Class in order to ensure quality, and the M-Class offroader will also be late to market when it goes on sale next summer."""

They are referring surely to vehicles that have now been in production for a number of years??????

What is the MAJOR problem that we've all been moaning about on cars built after '95. Ahem...RUST.

This is what is costing MB sooo much to put right. I think you could take this to mean that late 2004 and onward cars wont have this problem.

Think why the build of NEW version C and A class cars might have been delayed. Maybe the factory had to have a bit of a refit to have better corrosion protection equipment installed?

Ps anyone know the meaning of the word "galvanise"?

 

[johnmc]

Factory and process changes to blame?

Remember that Merc build most cars outside of Germany now, that won't have helped the quality. Starting up new factories always causes quality problems for a while until the folks are trained and more experienced.
They also changed their designs to drive out cost. German manufacturers tend also to source part designs from other German firms. They likely use Bosch for their electronics and their quality is naff as well. The Japanese have the edge as their electronics quality is top notch, and cars today need this to be good.

The current C-Class (pre recent facelift) and the M-Class are the two worst cars that they make today. M-Class is built in the plan opened in the USA around 1997, and the C-Classes (for the UK) are almost all made in South Africa since about 2000. India now supplies a number of cars to Europe.

John

 

[l5foye]

johnmc- I notice you along with many others refer to the ML being built in the US. MLs for the European market are built in Graz, Austria.

 

[fuzzer]

johnmc- I notice you along with many others refer to the ML being built in the US. MLs for the European market are built in Graz, Austria.

I thought it was only the ML270 CDI that was built in Graz on the same production line as the Jeep Cherokee and G Wagon , i was under the impression that the petrols were made in alabama

 

[l5foye]

I should have mentioned that the plant that builds the European MLs also builds the BWM X3.

 

[fuzzer]

I should have mentioned that the plant that builds the European MLs also builds the BWM X3.

Mercedes are also stopping using the facility in Graz and moving production to their own.

 

[Tan]

johnmc- I notice you along with many others refer to the ML being built in the US. MLs for the European market are built in Graz, Austria.

If I recall correctly in the beginning all petrol ML's were built in the US, the ML 270 was built in Austria. I also remember something like if you specified a particular option..possibly the phone, then the car got built in Austria.

May be wrong but for some reason I have this idea stuck in my head.

 

[PJH]

What is the MAJOR problem that we've all been moaning about on cars built after '95. Ahem...RUST.

Ps anyone know the meaning of the word "galvanise"?

Galvanise in this sense means Zinc Coated. Frequently applied to corrugated Tin roofing.

Def Galvanise
Galvanised steel