Comments on: Luxury Car Assembly at Audi and Daimler

By: Christoph Roser

Christoph Roser — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 10:31:32 +0000

Hi Andrey, in Germany, a lot of expensive cars are company cars, which are usually used for 3-5 years and then sold on the second hand market. Hence, the drop in value is more than the small economic cars that a lot of people want.

By: Andrey A

Andrey A — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 16:34:11 +0000

Forgot the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=RpnVkETPI9Hp4pR8&v=AMj5bIRqiLE&feature=youtu.be

By: Andrey A

Andrey A — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 16:33:19 +0000

Mechanics love to complain and hate German cars, but as far as assembly quality goes, it’s as flawless as it gets. You simply won’t see issues like missing bolts or misaligned body panels on anything made in Germany. The fact that they are usually over engineered with little or no regard for longevity or ease of service is a fault with the engineers, not the people who build them.

Here’s a long, but informative video where an Audi V10 engine is dismantled on video. Timing chains look like a magnified Rolex movement. AC compressor driven off of the timing chain and a shaft, and a liquid cooled alternator. SMH!!!

One question though. Is it true that higher end German cars age poorly because the German tax laws discourage business owners from keeping cars longer than five years? That’s the answer I’ve been told some years ago as to why all of the cars made by the big three in Germany have so many issues when they approach 100k miles and it only gets worse from there.

By: Michael Bremer

Michael Bremer — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 17:48:53 +0000

Interesting write up. Like your comments about efficiency but relative to priorities for both Damlier and Audi, I’d guess those are very low priorities relative to the product they are producing. I’m sure it was interesting to see how they handle all of those variations, which would be a high priority. What your article says to me is there is absolutely no ‘one-way’ to do this. You need to look at your customer base, treat your people in a humane way where they grow their skills, capabilities and critical thinking skills and determine what priorities require focus. It would be interesting in an environment like these to also see what they are doing in terms of environmental sustainability. You might check out this link https://drawdown.org/drawdown-roadmap Look at the write up on business responsibilities…it would be unit #5, if they continued the numbering.

By: Christoph Roser

Christoph Roser — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 17:45:10 +0000

Hi Jay, unfortunately I don’t drive a Maybach, and hence do not more about their product variety than what Google can tell me… 🙁

By: B. Jayaraman

B. Jayaraman — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 17:43:04 +0000

HI Chris,
You have mentioned assembly of Electric Power train Maybach at Daimler Factory 56.
Do they also come in the power range of 300 to 500 Horse Power?
Wondering how huge the batteries may be.
Regards,
B. Jayaraman

By: Steve Milner

Steve Milner — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 13:53:25 +0000

Interesting! I worked for NMUK before becoming a consultant 30+years ago. I spent 2~3 years 2~3 days a week at Sindelfingen just before they introduced the Maybach. Quite a few ex-Toyota people also entered the consulting field in the 1990s ….but they tended to drive Audis!!

By: Rajendra Mhalgi

Rajendra Mhalgi — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 13:21:34 +0000

Great Thanks for sharing your experience and observations!