Mercedes opens factory in China!

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They just started building the E class in China.
Next will be the new C Class and Chrysler 300. (And even the Mitsubishi Outlander)

The Mercedes output will start with 25000 cars a year, but the factory has a capacity of 300 000 a year!

Does this mean will will soon get Chinese Mercedes made C Class?
And what about the next 300 due in a couple of years???

We’re already driving US made BMWs and Mercedes, but will a Chinese made Mercedes hurt the brand?

These are a bunch of real questions for “Dr.Z”…
What do you think?

Conversation 27 comments

  1. Chinese have better work ethics overall, so I’m more than willing to bet that the quality will be better than the vehicles built in the US plants. (M-class being one of the least reliable vehicles ever produced)

    I think this is a big boost for China. The fact that Merc built a factory there shows their confidence in the Chinese labor. Sure American press will be all over this, and sure it will hurt its image, but more so in Europe because of anti-made-in-china sentiment is stronger there not to mention their snobby attitude.

  2. I am more concerning about the “Mercedes-Benz” counterfeits and copy-cats from China. Imagine that we are going to pay tens of thousands more dollars to buy Mercedes, when thousands of Chineses are driving essentially the same car with “lookalike” badges. Or worse, dealers in here start to service our cars with cheap out counterfeit parts.

  3. Kinda looks like that underpaid Chinese worker in the pic really wants to ask Dr. Z if his moustache is real …

  4. these cars will probably stay in china, alot of companies have chinsese made versions bmw does, but most of them are built by another company.

  5. they make cars in china so they can sell them there.

    thats it.

    is that so hard to understand?

    It is very rare that western manufacturer exports cars from china, in fact, it almost never happens!

  6. I find it ironic that your post ends with the phrase….”their snobby attitude” when your own post reeks of racism and stereotypes. I’m willing to bet that Merc’s decision to open a factory in China has got less to do with, to use your words- “better work ethics” than it has to do with financial factors.

    By the way, just how does one make a comparison of “work ethics” when the gov. of China is still offically communist?

  7. IMO US will still get MB cars the way we get them today (E from DK, M from US/CA, etc)

    Those 25,000 E-series will likely be sold in China only. Yes, the chinese have money now and they like MB, BMW, Audi, etc.

  8. you kno what this means kids, right?
    this is the beginning of the end of the world as we kno it
    the chinese and the germans together again!
    it was heel the first time around and this will be hell again now!

  9. Well, since GM/Chevy Equinox (and now Suzuki xl-7) use the Chinese built V6(Shanghai), and No Problems are being reported….
    Why not?

  10. man how old are you douchebag wow you need to be placed next to a chipanze and i bet it make the human race look stupid cuz of you

  11. Greed is hard to beat. Mercedes needs more profits so it will produce anywhere it it is going to achieve them. Now it is China. Tomorrow somewhere else. If the customers want to be surrounded by unemployed people in their countries – buy Chinese, what else? Poor Chrysler 300 – it may be another victim. But do not point too much at DaimlerChrysler.
    Buicks are produced in China and who knows – maybe someday they will turn up in the US and you do not even know where they come from. As I said: Greed is hard to beat but it always leads into some kind of disaster. ( for example unemployment ) I am not against a world market, I am againt dumb strategies.

  12. Anonymous said…

    man how old are you douchebag wow you need to be placed next to a chipanze and i bet it make the human race look stupid cuz of you
    12:46 AM

    ^^The irony in that response! Your grammar rivals that of a 6 year old.

  13. “Anonymous said…
    I find it ironic that your post ends with the phrase….”

    I can understand my post might’ve appeared racist, but there was nothing ironic about it…

    It seems that you need to learn from Anonymous:4:09PM about what irony really means…

    “By the way, just how does one make a comparison of “work ethics” when the gov. of China is still offically communist? “

    And what does that have anything to do with work ethics? Where have you been in the past 10 years? It’s getting pretty close to free market economy over there. The fact that foreign companies setup factories should tell you something.

    There are pockets of China that still exercise communism with strictly equality and rationing, but those are on the local government levels, and they’re disappearing fast.

    Anyway, back to work for me.

  14. To Anonymous -11:36

    China does not build any engines for Chevy or Suzuki
    In fact the Suzuki makes their engines in Japan, even
    the GM designed one for XL-7, but hopefully they will
    come out with their own new and independent model in a few years.

  15. The 3.4 Liter engine in the Equinox IS built in China.
    GM wasn’t shy about it when the car came out.

  16. Check your Motorola Razrs & Apple Ipods, Nike drivers, 42in plasmas, & Coach bags and see where it’s made…You’ve already bought tons of American brands made in China. By buying, you are actually helping our U.S. economy. The jobs lost in manufacturing are more than made up in servicing side.

  17. Vince, can we now buy a new Mercedes at the local $1 dollar store along with all the other landfill junk made in China they sell to unsuspecting customers for a fraction of the price it would cost to build a real car? P.T. Barnum said it so many decades ago,’There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute’!

  18. Anonymous said…
    Vince, can we now buy a new Mercedes at the local $1 dollar store along with all the other landfill junk made in China they sell to unsuspecting customers for a fraction of the price it would cost to build a real car? P.T. Barnum said it so many decades ago,’There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute’!

    3:10 AM
    —————————-

    Where’s your facts? Instead of running your mouth, and sounding like an jerk,why not provide your FACTS, AND LINKS to back up your ranting? You don’t, because You have none… Opinions do NOT = Reality.
    UAW person must be on lunch, and posting here, as -per-usual!?

    Same nonsense, Koreans, Japanese, or anywhere else, same OLD TIRED Hate Filled ranting…no one cares, except you!
    Now go and drive your 37 year old Ford Focus , and then brag about it being hi-tech!

  19. Same nonsense, Koreans, Japanese, or anywhere else, same OLD TIRED Hate Filled ranting…no one cares, except you!
    Now go and drive your 37 year old Ford Focus , and then brag about it being hi-tech!

    Actually, that was a pretty good speech! Couldn’t have said it better myself!

  20. Wow, what a dicussion. What are you folks scared of? This is the future:
    Americans are going tobuild hamburgers and eat them, Germans are going to build the `Bratwurst` and drive off in their Chinese cars. What is the problem? After having the hamburger you folks will be busy servicing your Chinese car and make a fortune with it. I would not bother the grammar of the 6-year old that wrote, I would bother the state of mind that some folks are in. The whole thing has nothing to do with racism or whatever, it has to do with your future income that may be defined by world market standards – how about $ 50 amonth to make a living? Maybe folks will wake up as soon as hamburgers are imported from China too. Bon appetit.

  21. Arguing over the internet is useless but still the whole point of somehow the third world or in case of china more like second world is going to be the root cause of first world woes is ridiculous. Why? Simple dont fault Chinese shoe maker for Rockport charging you 100 bucks for a shoe. Isnt Rockport at fault here for being greedy and switching production from say Portugal to China? Sure their quality went down the pipe. They suck right now. So what? People still keep buying Rockports and the 90 buck margin goes to rockport. They get to keep all the profit which is gigantic too. If you want to blame someone, then blame Mercedes for not passing on the cost savings.

  22. Oh well let them produce Mercedes in Germany and Chevrolets in the US and let the Chinese produce their Wang Chi or whatever they may be called. If they are better, buy them, if they are not, Chinese still can drive them. It is about free markets and product identity which is related to countries and their workers. The Germans can produce expensive cars and if their quality is not superb they may go down the drain-but why produce in China? I would probably buy a Wong Chi-or whatever- if it is a good car but not a Mercedes made in China. Full stop.

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