Mercedes Day!!

April 16,2012

The big day has finally arrived. Katherine and I pick up our new car from Mercedes. Unlike arriving at a dealership in the US - this is an incredibly orchestrated production. Cecil B DeMille could have overseen this production. In Dallas, I received a black leather portfolio with the details of my anticipated arrival. Taxi vouchers, meal vouchers at Mercedes (breakfast or lunch), my "Black Forest Alps Rally Itinerary", and my car receipt. When we arrived at Sindelfingen, where Mercedes is manufactured outside of Stuttgart, a gentlemen greeted our taxi dressed in a suit and tie (we're always impressed with well - dressed men). He had two trolleys to discreetly steel away our 6 suit cases, two coats, and water carriers (embarrassing, isn't it?). We were then escorted through the steel and glass lobby and were seated behind a mahogany desk on two le coubousier chairs. "Brune Hilda" discreetly inquired my name - and then instantaneously produced our papers for the car. She spent 20 minutes outlining in an efficient manner every necessary paper that was in our 2 inch thick folder.

Katherine and I planned to take the factory tour. The 90 minute tour began with Bjorn - a fresh faced, enthusiastic Mercedes "company man". The factory grounds were so vast, that we went from location to location in a bus. There were 2 other couples, and a single gentlemen with us. All of us Americans.

Here's a few Mercedes facts for the analysts who are reading this: 1. Mercedes produced 1.35 million vehicles in 2011 (record year). 2. Production included the Smart Car 3. They produced a bullet proof , 10 passenger limo ; 52 were made in 2011. The production on this vehicle is 60 days, on a regular Mercedes 4 days;Maybach 30 days; and the AMG's took 10 days. 4. The bullet proof cars ' largest customers were Russia,Brazil and Mexico (would these countries be a safe place to invest in real estate? in a JV?) The largest regular Mercedes customer is China.

The factory itself employs 45,000 ; worldwide 350,000; the first half of the production employs 98% robots, the second half of the production employs 10% robots. One amazing detail that I found interesting - having always been a "car nut" - is that most of the parts of the Mercedes are actually glued together. Very little of the chassis is soldered.

After the factory tour, we were allowed to "view" our car. Imagine the anticipation build up!!! We were ushered to the viewing platform that overlooked the viewing floor - and there was our brand new black Mercedes with the white leather Designo (hand sewn) interior. WOW! Each owner was assigned their own technical liaison, who spent an hour going over every technical detail of the car. We were fortunate to have met a fellow Texan earlier in the day, Larry who helped us with our car.

We squeezed our six pieces of luggage, 2 coats, and water carriers in the car.

Just a note - I have never owned a Mercedes or a car with an automatic transmission and I am very pleased with the performance of the car. The reason why I choose a Mercedes, and not a different German brand, is that it is the only car one can keep in Europe for 12 months before exporting. Other cars, Italian and German only allow a maximum of 6 months.