The strange case of the disappearing options...

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st13phil

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For reasons that aren't entirely clear, since the introduction of the W204 in 2007 Merecedes-Benz UK seem to have adopted a policy of providing restricted option choices on new cars, and of packaging the options that do exist which has the effect of further limiting choice.

An example is Parameter Steering that used to be an option on the W204 in SE and Elegance form. For the facelift car this is now only available on the Sport model in the UK. In Germany it's still an option on the pricelist, so its lack of availability in the UK is down to a policy decision, not an engineering one. It's a similar state of affairs on the W212 E-Class: Direct Steering is standard on the Sport model and on all the V6 & V8 engined cars but is unavailable on the 4-pot Avantgarde or SE cars. Equally irritating is that on the W212 if you go for the Sport then the headlining is black, like it or lump it, unless you specify the Luxury Pack in which case you get a colour choice.

One of the joys of buying a new Mercedes-Benz is that you can tailor it to your personal preferences. For whatever reason, MB-UK seem hell-bent on eliminating that pleasure and dumbing down the options list. I can understand it for a market like the USA where buyers expect to walk into a dealership and drive out in a new car within an hour or two. Under those circumstances, packaging the options and reducing the variability makes massive sense as cars need to be held in stock. However, the UK market isn't like that: we're used to placing factory orders and specifying just what we want, so why spoil it? :dk:
 
Options are a funny old game. Have you ever tried speccing a ford focus? Now thats a true case of a lack of options ;)
 
Phil
It because alot of cars now are pre specced by the factory, Mercedes' problem is they have targets for dealers to meet and when dealers sign in to being retailers they declare they will meet the volume targets.

This is also killing the value used cars, i'm not getting into how you could once buy a Mercedes and sell it for what you paid, but with Mercedes' desire to sell more and more units dealers can offer discounts as they know cars are readily available from the factory.
 
For reasons that aren't entirely clear...

At the height of MB's reliability problems a few years ago they acknowledged that their cars had become "too complex", and that in future they would be putting dependability before the provision electronic gadgets. Presumably by restricting the number of options you can order or by making them part of a package (particularly on the cheaper models) it simplifies the build process and means there's potentially less to go wrong in future.
 
In Germany it's still an option on the pricelist, so its lack of availability in the UK is down to a policy decision, not an engineering one.
How does the base spec of the cars compare? It was always said that UK base spec is higher than other countries anyway due to the company car market.

I think restriction of options is a good thing - if it leads to more kit being fitted fitted as standard. Option prices are a complete rip-off anyway, and you lose the vast majority of the value of them after 3yrs, which makes it very expensive to change cars regularly. Neighbour of mine switched to Lexus a few years ago because of this.
 
I suspect the simple reason is the fact in the mind of the sales spivs that determine the policy to restrict options, on lesser spec cars this policy would force people to buy the top of the range models wtih higher margins.
 
Its the same old, same old from MB UK where a few accountants decide what their UK customers want----without asking them of course! Its why we don't have 4matic, its why we don't have an Avantgarde version of the W204 C class in the UK and why there's not even a 2WD GLK. It comes from a need to quantify everything. You can quantify the familiar-what you know- and calculate the reward very accurately. You can't use accountancy to accurately quantify change , innovation, the future , the unknown, the new, despite the fact the potential rewards may well be greater. Its called Vision accountants don't do Vision very well.;)
 
Its called Vision accountants don't do Vision very well.;)
Ahh... the problem our bean-counting friends have with "Vision" is that there's no Excel function for it :rolleyes:
 
It because alot of cars now are pre specced by the factory, Mercedes' problem is they have targets for dealers to meet and when dealers sign in to being retailers they declare they will meet the volume targets.
I understand the concept of pre-speccing but MB dealers never really had a problem with doing that for stock cars - they just ticked the option boxes that they new would sell. Also, the way MB's ordering and build process works actually makes changing the spec a pretty simple task if a customer comes along who wants something specific. Dealers have allocated "build slots" and they can make pretty major spec changes up to around a month before scheduled build.
Presumably by restricting the number of options you can order or by making them part of a package (particularly on the cheaper models) it simplifies the build process and means there's potentially less to go wrong in future.
Bearing in mind that for other markets the options are still discrete, it makes no material difference to the complexity of the build process. Notionally it allows you to run an MPS with less variety and more certainty, but from a build perspective I'd say it was pretty neutral. The reliability issue is an important one but it's hard to see how changing the colour of the headlining would influence it ;)
How does the base spec of the cars compare? It was always said that UK base spec is higher than other countries anyway due to the company car market.
Base spec's compare quite closely now, with the exception that the UK market includes much of the Pre-Safe kit as standard while the German market has it on the options list.

Standardising the spec's does make a degree of sense for the Company Car market where typically a user-chooser has an arbitrary limit placed on the options value, but that still doesn't give any validity to removing the ability to select individual options. For example, on the pre-facelift W204 the SE Executive comes with COMAND as standard which makes eminent sense in the Company Car sector as there would be comparitively few who could specify a £2k option. It doesn't stop MB offering COMAND as an option on the Elegance and Sport variants though.
I suspect the simple reason is the fact in the mind of the sales spivs that determine the policy to restrict options, on lesser spec cars this policy would force people to buy the top of the range models wtih higher margins.
I suspect that there's a strong element of that, but it backfires in so many ways when you follow through the full consequences.
 
Speaking to a long-term Audi driver the other day. For some reason, Audi seems to be the most popular car brand where I work. He has just purchased a new A5, and was complaining that each time he trades his car in for a new one, it has a poorer spec than the one he has just got rid of. Not just an MB strategy it seems.
 
Could it be so that to get the option you want you have to buy others you don't want.
 
i had the same problem in 2003 cant have folding rear seats without heated front seats,so its nothing new
 
I found this when I was looking yet strangely enough if you order a UK spec car in Germany you can have whatever options you want and not just restricted to packages and a few options. Germans get the whole of the options catalogue:mad:
 
Could it be so that to get the option you want you have to buy others you don't want.
Precisely. For example, if I want Parameter Steering I have no choice, I have to have the Sport model which includes body styling, sports seats, a black headlining and hard suspension. I can live with the body styling, I can even live with the sports seats if push came to shove (with the exception that they come in black only), but I don't want a black headlining that makes the interior look like the inside of a coal shed, and I definitely don't want the hard suspension.
I found this when I was looking yet strangely enough if you order a UK spec car in Germany you can have whatever options you want and not just restricted to packages and a few options. Germans get the whole of the options catalogue:mad:
Exactly my point. It's down to MB-UK, not anything to do with engineering or manufacturing.
 
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