.

Translation of an article from a comparison test between Mercedes-Benz S 400 CDI, BMW 740d and Audi A8 3.3 TDI from German car magazine "Auto Bild", March 2001

Oje,Mercedes!

Three sedans of the absolute luxury class. Here it is all about space, power and prestige. That at the end seen in a sober light the S-Class stands on top of the victory rostrum it first of all is due to its excellent engine.
In its best area it makes a mighty boob. And that is hard: Just Mercedes, a byword for solidity and stable value currently presents itself at the most as average as far as details in the interior are concerned. Our S 400 CDI additionally surprised with considerable finish flaws which were unknown so far from its predecessors from W108/109 to W140. The current star of the Stuttgarters in the interior turned into a unkind made designer product. High-quality ingredients? Nothing doing. Instead: Cheap looking plastics wherever one reaches to. Cup holder, ashtray, seat covers - all surfaces spray the charm of average Japanese cars. But those in many cases are better put together. In the at least DM 145.000 expensive S 400 CDI not straight leather seams, shaky air vents and slovenly fitted doors testify of lacking care at the production. Or lacking quality control.

Photo copyright: DaimlerChrysler 2003

            Luxury Limbo Rock: How Low Can Benz Go?

              By MICHELLE KREBS
.

              MOVADO watches for the common man.
              Tommy Hilfiger styles for every Tom, Dick
              and Harry. What's next? Mercedes-Benz as
              the people's car?
.

              Aimed at young buyers who could never have afforded a new Mercedes
              before, the C230 is selling briskly. But after a week driving one, I had to
              wonder if the company will eventually pay a price for venturing so far
              downscale. Cheaper products may lift sales in the short run, but they can
              also chip away at the exclusivity and scarcity that are hallmarks of high-end
              goods.

              "When a premium brand becomes available to the common man, it casts
              doubt on the legitimacy of the premium of the company's other products and
              diminishes their value," said John Wolkonowicz, a partner in the Bulin Group,
              a consulting firm in Northville, Mich. "As soon as a brand tries to be
              everything to everybody, it loses focus in the mind of the consumer."

              In a recent study of premium auto brands, the Bulin Group found "it gets very
              dangerous" for a luxury nameplate to offer models for less than $27,000, Mr.
              Wolkonowicz said. For instance, BMW found that its core buyers were
              turned off by the 318ti, a $20,000 four-cylinder hatchback that it sold
              alongside more expensive cars in the mid-1990's. BMW is taking a different
              approach with its new Mini, which starts around $17,000, selling it through
              distinct showrooms in separate franchises.

              Nonetheless, other luxury carmakers are charging down-market. Last year,
              Jaguar introduced the X-Type, a midsize sedan aimed at young buyers, with
              a starting price of $30,000. The X-Type is based on the Ford Mondeo sold
              in Europe, and it wouldn't be a stretch to call it one of the best Fords ever
              built. But the car lacks the visceral look, smell and feel that set Jaguars apart
              from other cars. Sales have been disappointing, and the company is already
              offering cut- rate leases. 
              True, Mercedes is not Jaguar, and the three-pointed star remains a powerful
              symbol worldwide, adorning third world taxicabs, European delivery vans
              and presidential limousines alike, with little obvious damage to the brand. But
              while Europeans may not think less of Mercedes for selling the tiny $20,000
              A-Class, wealthy, status-obsessed Americans may not like the idea of
              $25,000 hatchbacks sharing showrooms with their $125,000 luxury
              roadsters.
              In this country, image counts, and the C230 coupe has not received the royal
              treatment. Automobile magazine dared to compare it with a $25,000
              Hyundai XG 350. The Hyundai, made in South Korea, held its own.
              The C230 springs from the C-Class sedan, which was redesigned for the
              2001 model year. But the coupe bears only a faint resemblance to its classy
              sibling, which is seven inches longer. The two share no body panels, only
              their outside mirrors.

              No one will mistake the C230 for the slab- sided Mercedes-Benzes of yore.
              The curved rear end made me think of Renault. The car is quite
              aerodynamic, with the profile of an egg on its side. Some people clearly like
              the look, but I found it bland, even homely.

              There is no denying that the C230 shares the painstaking engineering and
              vaultlike construction of bigger Mercedes models. The steering is precise, the
              ride is comfortable and the handling is responsive. The braking is among the
              best in the class.

              And the C230 has more safety features than any other $25,000 car. All four
              seat positions have three-point safety belts and head restraints; there are dual
              front air bags (with the BabySmart system that recognizes when a child seat
              is in use); side air bags in front and rear; and inflatable side curtains that
              protect occupants' heads. Also standard are antilock brakes; electronic
              brake assistance, for panic stops; and stability control, to prevent skids.

              But there is evidence inside the car of how Mercedes achieved such a low
              base price. Some of the materials, which are supposed to look youthful,
              seemed cheap. The fabric on the seats and doors of my royal blue test car
              — leather costs $1,400 extra — had a tacky geometric pattern. The center
              dash is covered in a silver-black material intended to look like woven
              aluminum. Mercedes has used touches of similar materials before, but it
              slathered the stuff in the C230.

              The car has a back seat, but it is not roomy and the rear windows do not
              open. Since many buyers are likely to be single and childless, that is probably
              not a big deal. Mercedes has tried to make the C230 airy by offering a
              sunroof ($995) composed of two expansive glass panels, one of which
              opens.

              The engine is Mercedes's 2.3-liter, 4-cylinder Kompressor (German for
              supercharged). This power plant, which is also used in the SLK roadster, is
              not one of the company's finest. Although rated at 192 horsepower, it felt
              sluggish in my test car, which had the optional ($1,300) five-speed automatic
              transmission. The shifts on the automatic, which allows for manual gear
              shifting, were abrupt. I did not drive a car equipped with the standard
              six-speed manual, but I do not have fond memories of other sloppy
              Mercedes six-speeds. The company says this one has been improved.

              While the C230 handles very well, it has a heavy, leaden quality that keeps it
              from being much fun. While the company has billed this as a car that resulted
              from engineers' letting "their hair down," it left me with a different impression:
              that this is what middle-aged German engineers think is youthful and fun.
              They should be assigned to drive the Acura RSX, a front-drive hatchback
              that delivers many more smiles for thousands of dollars less.

              Still, the base price is the big attraction here, though even a brief encounter
              with the order form is likely to raise the toll, given that many common
              features are optional. The standard sound system, for instance, is an AM/FM
              radio with cassette player. You must pay extra for a CD player, which seems
              odd in a car aimed at a young, music-obsessed crowd. (At least they get a
              weather band on the radio.)

              For years, Mercedes has cut costs in an effort to hold the line on prices.
              Materials that look and feel relatively cheap have been showing up even in
              expensive models like the S-Class sedan, but have been especially notable in
              the M-Class sport utility. At the same time, the revered Mercedes brand has
              been dropping in quality and durability rankings.

              One such survey by TUV, a German auto-inspection and research
              association, which measured durability during the first three years of
              ownership, ranked half a dozen Toyotas ahead of the highest-rated
              Mercedes, the SLK. (It was No. 12.) Over all, the TUV survey found that
              Mercedes quality and customer satisfaction had been falling since 1999, and
              had dropped below the ranking of General Motors' Opel subsidiary.

              In North America, Mercedes fell last year to 10th place, from 6th, in a J. D.
              Power & Associates study that measured dependability after four to five
              years of ownership. The study found 296 problems for every 100 Mercedes
              vehicles, compared with 173 problems for Lexus, which has been ranked
              first for seven years.

              None of these issues — declining quality, budget materials, possible brand
              erosion — may matter much to those who buy the C230. But they pose
              risks for a company with a century-old reputation for automotive superiority.

Mercedes Brand Fares Badly In Survey of Auto Makers

by Scott Miller and Karen Lundegaard
Staff Reporters of the WALL STREET JOURNAL

FRANKFURT -- Mercedes-Benz, famed for its engineering prowess, is suddenly facing tough questions about the quality of its cars, with several surveys showing that the stately German brand may now trail some decidedly down-market competition.

A surprise blow to Mercedes's quality reputation came last week when a normally secretive study of car quality in Europe was leaked to a German trade publication. The report, conducted for the auto makers themselves, showed Mercedes quality and customer satisfaction falling since 1999 to levels below Opel, the German unit of General Motors Corp. and a brand with one of the worst images in Europe. A separate German survey ranked the German-built Ford Focus compact car No. 1 in a study of durability during the first three years of a car's life. The survey, conducted by TÜV, a German auto-inspection and research association, put half a dozen Toyota models ahead of the first Mercedes model -- the SLK, which came in 12th. 

Mercedes's quality rankings in the U.S. have also slipped, according to J.D. Power & Associates, an influential arbiter of automotive-quality ratings. In a fall study of vehicle dependability, the brand fell to 10th place in 2001 from sixth place the year earlier. It now ranks behind such brands as Lincoln, Cadillac and Jaguar.

"My personal opinion is that a brand such as Mercedes should be at the top. That's what people's expectations of the brand are," said Tom Libby, director of industry analysis for J.D. Power, who lowered Power's rating for Mercedes's overall product quality to "fair" from "good" last week in a
presentation ahead of the National Automobile Dealers Association convention in New Orleans.

The J.D. Power study, which surveyed some 156,000 car owners, found that five-year-old Mercedes vehicles had 296 problems per 100 vehicles, compared with an average of 285 for autos of the same age by other luxury makers and an overall industry average of 382. Drivers were questioned about 137
potential problem areas in nine overall categories: interior, exterior, transmission, engine, features/ controls, ride/handling/braking, seats, sound system and heating/ventilation/cooling. Mercedes showed the biggest declines in transmission and features/controls.

The surveys are a blow for Mercedes and its parent DaimlerChrysler AG. With its Chrysler Group unit in deep financial trouble, DaimlerChrysler has relied on Mercedes as a cash cow. At the same time, Chrysler is counting on Mercedes to help lift its own quality by supplying key components like engines.
Donna Boland, Mercedes's U.S. spokeswoman, said the company has been dealing with volume increases and more complex technology. Since 1997, it has gone from four model lines to nine. Still, she said, the company is committed to improving its quality rankings.

"Being Mercedes, quality is absolutely the highest priority," Ms. Boland said. "It's what our brand is based on. We will use every resource at our disposal to bring those numbers up."

Al Bedwell, research manager at J.D. Power-LMC in Oxford, England, said Mercedes's quality issues are a byproduct of a decision in the early 1990s to focus more on what consumers want, rather than engineers, and to round out the company's product lineup with smaller -- and cheaper -- cars such as
the A-Class. The moves served their purpose: World-wide sales of Mercedes cars have doubled to more than one million a year since 1993, and the company has turned in repeated record profits. But it's also hurt the brand's overall quality ratings, which take into account all of its models together.

The A-class, known as "baby Benz," for example, had to be temporarily pulled from the market in 1998 when it flipped over during crash avoidance tests.

Mercedes's sport-utility vehicle, the M-Class, was also criticized for its interior (later revamped) and, in a Consumer Reports used-car guide, for its reliability.

"It's becoming more evident that Mercedes-build quality isn't as bulletproof as it used to be," Mr. Bedwell said. "At the same time, the average-build quality across the industry is increasing, closing the gap they once enjoyed."

The most recent slap at Mercedes quality came last week, when a portion of the normally highly confidential New Car Buyer Survey was leaked to a German auto trade publication. Such surveys of European consumers aren't typically made public because of tight privacy laws; the results are usually intended for market research or manufacturers themselves. The NCBS, for instance, is conducted for auto manufacturers by survey agencies in each geographical market. It is arguably the most thorough ranking on the Continent, measuring quality as well as general customer satisfaction.

According to the NCBS survey index, the number of negative points per 1,000 Mercedes cars climbed from around 100 in 1999 to more than 110 last year. At the same time, the number of negative points on Opel cars shrank from around 130 in 1999 to near 100 in 2001.

Mercedes and Opel verified the leaked portions of the report, but didn't comment on specific faults. Johannes Reifenrath, director of communications at Mercedes-Benz passenger cars in Stuttgart, said a more detailed version of the survey showed Mercedes quality was at least as high as Opel, but he
declined to provide any additional data.

Mr. Reifenrath said Mercedes has been working hard to address the quality issues. "There are a lot of indications from our plants that some of those models that have been criticized are improving," he said.
Despite the surveys, Mercedes's reputation remains solid. With U.S. consumers, it trails only Rolls Royce in quality perceptions among auto makers, ahead of Bentley, Porsche, Lexus and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, according to the EquiTrend study by Harris Interactive. Lexus, meanwhile,
ranked at the top of the J.D. Power quality studies, well ahead of its competitors. A Europe-wide survey conducted by German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, a bible in the industry here, showed Mercedes had the third most favorable brand image, following BMW in first place and Porsche.

Indeed, some analysts say surveys such as J.D. Power and the NCBS are looking at the wrong things. Quality rankings often move up and down depending on the year, they say, and companies with lots of new models, as Mercedes has had recently, tend to have more defects. Longer-term surveys, they argue, show Mercedes quality holding relatively steady.

The company may soon face the toughest test of its quality. Mercedes is preparing to launch the latest edition of its E-Class line of full-size sedans -- for years a symbol of the brand. Unlike the M-Class, which is made in the U.S., and the A-Class, a daring venture downmarket, Mercedes will have no excuses if the E-Class hits a snag.
End of article from WSJ
 

"...At rest the tables are turned quite drastically on the Mercedes. Those quad-eyed good looks and plutocrat badge are almost the sum total of its showroom appeal. The over-engineered Merc is a thing of the past now, sadly. Hard, ill-fitting plastics meet rough fabrics inside to make an interior that is barely more special than a £10k hatchback..."
.

In terms of the MB quality gone downhill DaimlerChrysler seems to have lost ground contact completely. Or how should one judge about this sentence:

The Mercedes-Benz name is synonymous with quality engineering the world over. 1*

They wrote it in conjunction with the introduction of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Van in the USA and Canada from June 2001 on under the Freightliner brand -
a top-level embarassment when you consider Mr. Schrempp and his buddies did not do their emissions homework resulting in the fact that the Sprinter has no federal LEV rating certification in the five US states with California Air Resources Board certification requirements (which are California, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine). 2*
If this shall represent the current Mercedes quality - we all still have in mind other disasters like the A-Class failing the Moose-Test etc. pp., haven`t we? -
I can hear the competition laugh out loud!
 

1* Source: Freightliner Sprinter Mercedes Engineering
2* Source: Freightliner Sprinter Hot News
 

((Figures in Euro: German car magazine "Auto Motor und Sport", May 2001
DM and Dollar figures by MBSPY: Exchange rate Euro to DM is fixed at Euro 1 = DM 1,95583,
Exchange rate Euro to US Dollar at Euro 1 = 0,8939 Dollar as of May 4th, EZB, Frankfurt, Germany))

For that lot of money MB buyers can expect the members of the DC board do their jobs and care for MB quality.
 

Car maker from Stuttgart against the trend wants to grow

Mercedes-chief Juergen Hubbert about the myth Maybach, continuing bad economical outlooks and the sharpening debate about quality problems at Mercedes
 

In the same issue Bernd Stegemann, editor of the car magazine writes about the new E-Class W211:

"The quality convinces. That again is another Mercedes, like it has to be".
 

Body quality, functionality and high road safety charcterize the new E-Class as well as the good handling.

Body
High-class interiour
Very good quality

And in the test "Auto Motor und Sport" writes:
"...Especially for the quality. The E 320 shows it with a noticeable high body stiffness, fantastic detail quality and - one may believe that without further proof - best possible crash behaviour, which compared to the predecessor again was enhanced significantly.
But because quality also has much to do with optics, deficits in this area were cleared by Mercedes. The interiour especially in the tested Elegance line now absolutely gives this feeling of high-quality which is adequate for a Mercedes. ..."    Translations by MBSPY
.

The alarming result for Mercedes in your reader`s activities image profile does really make you wonder? But not me. After eight cars from Strichacht to the C-Class I´m increasingly dissatisfied with the quality of finish and reliability. Example: Used C-Class bought in October 2001 (20.900 km). Caused by defect on the airbag-system in-time delivery was not possible. January 2002 (23.900 km) passenger airbag faulty. Cost Euro 1207. Total time of use ten months. Caused by the conditions of use of my car Daimler-Chrysler can offer no more goodwill regulation. An airbag IST JA AUCH a in daily use highly stressed part - but under customer service I actually do understand something different.

Reinhold Erdel
90513 Zirndorf

MBSPY adds: Strichacht or /8 is the name for the W114/115 middle-class series from 1968 until 1976.
 

autos
 

DaimlerChrysler warranty costs rise to £1bn
By Uta Harnischfeger in Frankfurt
Published: May 7 2001 19:58GMT | Last Updated: May 7 2001 20:16GMT
 

DaimlerChrysler, the US-German carmaker, is suffering from growing quality problems at its Mercedes-Benz luxury car unit that cost the group about DM3.4bn (£1bn) in warranty payments in 2000. Warranty costs have risen three-fold in two years.  The quality problems coincide with the group's increasing

dependency on the German luxury unit, as it struggles to restructure Chrysler and
Mitsubishi.

Mercedes-Benz passenger cars earned almost half of the group's E5.2bn (£3.2bn)
adjusted operating profit last year. 

DaimlerChrysler declined to comment on the cost figure, saying it was business-sensitive
information. But it said per-car warranty costs had remained stable "on a comparative
basis". It added: "Competition has intensified and there is a general trend to broaden
warranty services." 

Warranty costs are those borne by the carmaker to repair vehicles still under guarantee or
ex gratia. At about DM3.4bn, they roughly equal Mercedes-Benz's development costs in
2000, a person familiar with the company said. Mercedes-Benz spent DM2.3bn on
developing costs - excluding research costs - and DM1bn on warranty and ex-gratia
payments in 1998. 

Sales of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars increased 14 per cent to 1.05m between 1998 and
2000. At the same time, two new series were introduced, the A-Class subcompact and the
M-class sports-utility. People familiar with the company say these have proved prone to
quality problems. 

They mainly result from growing pressures to shorten development times and save money in
the quality control process, the person said. 

DaimlerChrysler has set up "quality circles" in all major divisions to tackle the issue. "There is
a flurry of activism with which DaimlerChrysler is trying to get its quality problems under
rcontrol," said the insider. "You can have thousands of perfect parts, but the art of building a
car still lies in its functioning as a whole." 

He added that DaimlerChrysler had all but scrapped test-driving its new models in marathon
runs over tens of thousands of kilometres. 

Additional reporting by Guido Reinking 

Source URL as of May 7th 2001
 

May 8, 2001

Report: Mercedes-Benz warranty costs soar
 

May 8 - - DaimlerChrysler is facing increased quality problems with its
Mercedes-Benz luxury car unit, the Financial Times reported Tuesday. 

Quality problems resulted in nearly $1.5 billion in warranty payments in 2000 and
a threefold hike in such costs in the past two years, the report said.

Part of the problem, says a Financial Times source, is that Mercedes-Benz has
had multiple quality issues with newer products, including the A-class
subcompact and the M-class sport-utility.

According to the source, many of the quality hiccups associated with
Mercedes-Benz products result from growing pressures felt by the automaker to
shorten development times and cut quality control costs. For example,
DaimlerChrylser has stopped test driving its new models in multithousand-mile
marathon runs, the source claims.

Warranty costs for the German unit were roughly equal to development costs in
2000, the source says.

DaimlerChrysler told the newspaper that as competition has intensified, it has
jumped aboard the "trend to broaden warranty services." It maintains that costs
have remained stable on a comparable basis. 

--Automotive News

Many thanks to Michael H. for pointing to the article!...Source URL as of May 8th 2001
 

^{'DaimlerChrysler suffers quality woes' 
Warranty costs surge as managers cut development times}

^{By Taska Manzaroli, FTMarketWatch.com
Last Update: 4:24 AM ET May 8, 2001}

^{FRANKFURT (FTMW) - DaimlerChrysler (DE:710000: news, alerts) (DCX: news,
msgs, alerts) is plagued by growing quality problems at its luxury car making
unit Mercedes-Benz that cost the group €1.7 billion in warranty payments last
year, the Financial Times reported.}

^{The stock dropped 1 percent to €56, and was one of the biggest decliners in
Germany's benchmark DAX Index on Tuesday. The shares have risen about
25 percent this year.}

^{Warranty costs - the charges for repairing vehicles still under guarantee - have
tripled in two years, the FT said, citing people familiar with the Stuttgart-based
company.}

^{The problems at Mercedes-Benz could not come at a worse time for DaimlerChrysler
chief executive Juergen Schrempp, who is grappling with a wide-ranging revamp of
the ailing U.S. unit Chrysler and loss-making Japanese affiliate Mitsubishi.}

Limo go

The world's fifth-biggest carmaker, whose hulking Mercedes S-Class is the preserve of
German executives and politicians alike, is more and more reliant on the luxury unit for
profits. Mercedes-Benz passenger cars earned half the company's €5.2 billion of
adjusted operating profit last year. 

DaimlerChrysler declined to comment on the warranty cost figure, saying it was
business-sensitive information, the FT said. "Competition has intensified and there is a
general trend to broaden warranty services," the company told the FT.

The newspaper reported that the warranty costs were roughly equal to Mercedes-Benz's
development expenditure in 2000.

Quality street

The overall increase in sales of passenger cars and the introduction of the compact
A-Class and the M-Class sports utility vehicle in the last two years have contributed to
the quality problems, the newspaper said.

For every M-Class sold, the German company has to shell out almost €2,500 on
average for guarantee services, the Financial Times Deutschland reported. That's a
record level for Mercedes-Benz, it said. The tank-like M-Class sells for about €50,000.

Managers are under pressure to cut development times and save money in the quality
control process, the FT reported. The firm has set up "quality circles" in all major
divisions, such as development and production, to tackle the problem, the paper said.

Taska Manzaroli is a reporter for FTMarketWatch.com based in Berlin.

Source URL as of May 8th 2001
 

"The eye wanders about the solid surrounding of wood and leather, which not only because of the high-quality of these materials but also because of the careful finish into the detail makes a first-class impression. And that is Mercedes at its best, a quality feel some series in the lower steps of the Mercedes-hierarchy lack in the youngest past".
.
Translation by MBSPY

And in the judgement table in the article "ams" says: Body very good quality
.

Mercedes-Lemon.com  Contributions are welcomed anytime, email

Customer problems with MB production quality control   aka www.mercedesproblems.com/
List all models button gives 1.27 MB of data

Problemas con Mercedes-Benz  by Andrés Kopylow reporting his own problems 
(in Spanish language, the links for the photos are broken, but you can view them by right-clicking on their space on the page and then choose  View Image)