European Delivery?

CLAMP

· #2 · Jan 30, 2013

LennyR said:
Does Mercedes have a European delivery plan for North American buyers like those offered by Porsche and BMW?

What would that plan be? Never heard of it, but then again, I don't drive a BMW or Porsche.

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El Chorizo

· #3 · Jan 30, 2013

CLAMP said:
What would that plan be? Never heard of it, but then again, I don't drive a BMW or Porsche.

I believe he might be referring to the ability for you to order the car, fly to the factory and take a tour, see how they build the cards, lunch, dinner, etc.. and then take delivery of your actual car and drive it over there. Then they ship it back. Its a buying experience...

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JoeyO

· #4 · Feb 3, 2013

Cool, I was just reading about the Mercedes European Delivery Program on their website. It's no different than the BMW one. They'll knock off 7% from MSRP, give you one night hotel in Germany and wine and dine you before picking up your car. And they'll provide European auto insurance for one week. That's not bad. I wonder if they'll do it for the CLA model. Some manufacturers don't allow it for all their models.

By the way, Volvo has a really nice European Delivery program. They'll put you in a Swedish hotel for a couple days and even pay for two airfare tickets to get you and a companion to Sweden. And they knock off a couple grand from MSRP.

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Minneapolis

· #5 · Feb 9, 2013

Hi Everyone (first post!) Any word on European delivery? I've spoken some dealers in the Minneapolis area and the collective response is 'we're not sure...' Euro Delivery sounds like a fun way to burn up some airline miles and hotel points.

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JoeyO

· #6 · Feb 9, 2013

No word yet. Heck, we don't even have a configurator or real price list. My guess is we won't find out about European delivery for several months. By "we", I mean North America. Mercedes is busy with the car's launch in Europe right now.

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osiris_x11

· #7 · Feb 9, 2013

El Chorizo said:
I believe he might be referring to the ability for you to order the car, fly to the factory and take a tour, see how they build the cards, lunch, dinner, etc.. and then take delivery of your actual car and drive it over there. Then they ship it back. Its a buying experience...

That's it in a nutshell! Good way to see (some of) Europe at your own leisure, namely zoom'zoom on the Autobahn- ja!

JoeyO said:
Cool, I was just reading about the Mercedes European Delivery Program on their website. It's no different than the BMW one. They'll knock off 7% from MSRP, give you one night hotel in Germany and wine and dine you before picking up your car. And they'll provide European auto insurance for one week. That's not bad. I wonder if they'll do it for the CLA model. Some manufacturers don't allow it for all their models...

I didn't realize the ~7% off MSRP. FWIW, on an avg. spec'd CLA of ~$35k that would be a ~$2.5k discount. If trying to negotiate, I don't think it'll be possible to get such a concession for a CLA till next winter, unless there's an established history & relationship w/ the dealer (w/ regards to past purchases/servicing/etc).

Two-and-half-grand ain't half half bad, so to speak. That's about (2) RT tickets & a few days of hotel stay. Or Sports package & a stand-alone option or two. Or 4Matic. Ha!

If I wasn't pressed for getting my CLA delivered as early as possible (presumably September), I'd give serious consideration to the MB European Delivery process. Can't let ~8+ yrs of German classes go un-utilized!

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Minneapolis

· #8 · Feb 9, 2013

osiris_x11 said:
If I wasn't pressed for getting my CLA delivered as early as possible (presumably September), I'd give serious consideration to the MB European Delivery process. Can't let ~8+ yrs of German classes go un-utilized!

Why wouldn't European Delivery be available in September?

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osiris_x11

· #9 · Feb 9, 2013

Minneapolis said:
Why wouldn't European Delivery be available in September?

I'm thinking September (at the earliest) pick-up in Deutschland, a few days of autobahns, autostradas, autoroutes, and motorways. Then 1-2 months to ship it back (rail to embarkation port, sea-freight for importation to the North American port, then off to a distributor, and finally arriving at the dealer for final delivery)... meaning getting it back in my hands earliest sometime November. Dunno if I can wait that long, ha! I want it now-now-now...

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Mike T

· #10 · Feb 10, 2013

The car is made in Hungary, so I wonder about an ED program because of that. It'd be nuts to ship it to Sindelfingen for a delivery, and to take a tour of that German M-B plant, when the car came from another country.

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Minneapolis

· #11 · Feb 10, 2013

Mike T.,

Just as a benchmark the Audi TT is made in Gyor, Hungary but is still available for European Delivery in Ingolstadt at Audi's Customer Center. I hope MB has the same philosophy.

I have calls in to all three dealerships in the MSP area (and one in AZ) regarding Euro delivery. Should get a response tomorrow. I'll let you all know what materializes.

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osiris_x11

· #12 · Feb 10, 2013

Is there some some level of finishing & final inspection & whatever else in Germany, or do all assembled & completed CLAs from Hungary get exported to their respective delivery markets?

Also, are all CLAs being manufactured in Hungary? The non-German assembly is an interesting aspect, admittedly. If the quality is there, I'm fine...

With that said, I'm sure Daimler had their reasons (increased capacity needed, more competitive labour costs, business incentives parlayed, etc).

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Mike T

· #13 · Feb 11, 2013

Every CLA will be made in Hungary. There is no German re-inspection of the Hungarian M-Bs. The B Class is built either in Rastatt Germany or Hungary. All the B 250s I have seen in Canadian showrooms were German-built.

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MackeyBloom

· #14 · Feb 16, 2013

Just spoke with the European Delivery Specialist for a very very large dealer.
The CLA will be offered with European Delivery. Deliveries will begin in October - one month after the US on-sale date. Due to the popularity of the European Delivery program and the interest in the CLA in general, the factory is currently advises a 4 month lead between ordering a delivery.

The CLA will be offered with the usual 7% off MSRP and no delivery charge to the US - the AMG version will not. (The AMG version is not expected to offered for European delivery until April 2014).
That being said, this particular dealer expects to be authorized to accept orders in May, exact pricing will not be available at that time, so a $2000 deposit will be required. All but $200 is refundable should you not like the final price when it is presented to you.

So - see you a your local Merc dealer in three months!

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Minneapolis

· #15 · Feb 17, 2013

MackeyBloom said:
Just spoke with the European Delivery Specialist for a very very large dealer.
The CLA will be offered with European Delivery. Deliveries will begin in October - one month after the US on-sale date. Due to the popularity of the European Delivery program and the interest in the CLA in general, the factory is currently advises a 4 month lead between ordering a delivery.

So - see you a your local Merc dealer in three months!

MackeyBloom, AWESOME information - thank you so much!

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Antares

· #16 · Feb 18, 2013

MackeyBloom said:
Just spoke with the European Delivery Specialist for a very very large dealer.
The CLA will be offered with European Delivery. Deliveries will begin in October - one month after the US on-sale date. Due to the popularity of the European Delivery program and the interest in the CLA in general, the factory is currently advises a 4 month lead between ordering a delivery.

The CLA will be offered with the usual 7% off MSRP and no delivery charge to the US - the AMG version will not. (The AMG version is not expected to offered for European delivery until April 2014).
That being said, this particular dealer expects to be authorized to accept orders in May, exact pricing will not be available at that time, so a $2000 deposit will be required. All but $200 is refundable should you not like the final price when it is presented to you.

So - see you a your local Merc dealer in three months!

Great news. Pretty much seals the deal for me. Ive been wanting to do euro delivery for years, though to be honest, always planed on it being a BMW.

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Criticfilm

· #17 · Feb 18, 2013

If anyone does ED, please post full experience. I'm strongly considering this as an option, I've driven on the autobahn and the Alps, it is an awesome experience in a rental, so imagine your own sweet ride. I would also probably hit the Nurburgring and the Stelio Pass!

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Antares

· #18 · Feb 21, 2013

I just want to confirm that European delivery will be a go for the CLA. I recieved this email back from MBusa:

Thank you for contacting Mercedes-Benz USA.

MBUSA invites you to sign up for CLA updates via the MBUSA Facebook page. If you don't have a Facebook account and would still like to sign up they can do so via our website at the following link:

2014 CLA - A Future Vehicle from Mercedes-Benz

Under the "Become a CLA Insider" on the lower right hand side, the customer will enter their e-mail address and press "Subscribe".

The European Delivery Program is expecting to include the CLA-Class. An authorized dealer can advise you when the vehicle is added or visit European Delivery Program - Mercedes Vehicle Shipping - Mercedes-Benz.

We hope this response is helpful.

Sincerely,
Robyn L.
Case Manager
[email protected]

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El Chorizo

· #19 · Feb 21, 2013

Antares said:
Great news. Pretty much seals the deal for me. Ive been wanting to do euro delivery for years, though to be honest, always planed on it being a BMW.

I'm sure Mercedes is very happy that they stole you from BMW

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JoeyO

· #20 · Feb 21, 2013

Does anyone know if that 7% discount is also passed along to the dealership? Because I'm trying to figure out if the dealerships will negotiate off of that discounted MSRP price, as a starting point.

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