[anjan_c2007]

During 2001, just a day before 9/11 viz. on the 10th of Sept, 2001, I visited the Mercedes Benz Sindelfingen Plant at Poplingen, near Stuttgart, Germany. I stayed near Frankfurt and reached Poplingen via Stuttgart ( their corporate hqs) using the DB (Die Bahn) and ICE (Inter City Express) trains.Poplingen is the nearest rail head which can be reached by changing at Stuttgart. I took a Merc E220 taxi from the Poplingen railway station to the Merc plant. Visitors have to book their visits in advance which is confirmed by the reception staff well in advance. Visitors are professionally shown around the Merc plant by a bus with audio commentary in 4 European languages. It was a dream come true for me and the check-in time given was 1 pm.
The goods train line passes from very near the plant and a train was loaded with factory fresh Mercs. The lobby for check -in has a museum with a six door Merc Landaulette 600SL(open top) Pullman Edition, that was a VVIP car perhaps. Then by its side is parked an Edwardian 1899 Daimler car. A Merc C Class was displayed with its engine,transmission and interiors on a display mode.The roofless C Class had been fully dissected and ripped open for viewers to have a look.
There is a cafeteria and a memorabilia shop where one can shop for Merc accessories and memorabilia. Brochures of most of the current models (with exotic Merc photos each 25-30 pages) are available for free. I took many with me.
There is a mini auditorium, where they showed a film depicting Merc's history and how brand Merc was born and how it has grown over the years. After the film viewing, the visitors were taken by the bus to the plant and shown the process right ( Only C Class manufcature is shown to visitors) from the sheet metal to the casting, to the fabrication (mostly robotised), painting, drying of the bodyshell, fitting of the mechanicals and electricals , wheels, the upholstery, glasses- the rear and front wind shields are fitted by robots.They admitted that their main thrust is for the US market where it gets its bread and butter from. And they also said that American customers prefer the silver colour more than any other.
Photography was only allowed in the museum and not thereafter- no photographs of the plant area are allowed. Then the finals comprise the new born car running on the company's test tracks and certification. The Mercedes is ready. And it was a surprise to see left and right hand drive models on the same assembly line .It was a splendid experience. They took care of each and every visitor and did their best to satisfy every query.

[abhinav.gupta88]

Woa. 7 years down the line.

Must've been an amazing experience.
I've been to maruti factory once

Thanks for sharing.

[anjan_c2007]

Thanks Yes abhinav it was thrilling.Another fact I forgot to say is that they told us that many tourists visiting Europe land at the Mercedes Benz plant, visit it, go to the customer care centre and buy their car. They drive off for a pan-European tour, visiting many countries and then finally going back with the car to their destination viz. their own country.
The folks were explaining us the stages through which the cars go in the assembly line and when they were talking about RHD and LHD car demands from nations, left hand drive they knew was for Germany,the US and other countries in the American continent.For right hand drive they said Great Britain and fumbled to utter the next. I butted "India", and they said yes-"we have an assembly line in India too". So for me its always "saare jahan se accha hindusthan hamara" wherever we go.

[anjan_c2007]

some pictures from Mercedes Benz brochures
Merc Taxis

[jkdas]

Man! just woke up after 8 years?:P

I missed out the trip to the one they have near Bremen, one the of the largest they have. SL500 is (was ?) made there. Car begins life on a zig zag conveyor and it travels 21 days in 7days or so to get the end product.

[anjan_c2007]

More images
The A Class which is an upmarket hatch and very commonly seen in Germany





The Die G-Klasse Von Mercedes Benz G300, G320 and G 500 (Turbo diesel)





The SLK Roadster


A 1955 SLK Roadster

[14000rpm]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

More images

Attachment 84239

Hey,I visited the mercedes plant in US. would that find suit here in this thread?

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Hey anjan_c2007,

I'm gonna be in germany in March, end this year, how do i book this tour?

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

Hey anjan_c2007,

I'm gonna be in germany in March, end this year, how do i book this tour?

Tejas I had got my tour planned by the company executives in Germany through phone contact. I believe you can visit their website and access the "contact us" icon, leave a message and then get their response. or else if you have contacts in Germany they can phone and talk about your tour.

[f450]

Originally Posted by 14000rpm

Hey,I visited the mercedes plant in US. would that find suit here in this thread?

I don't see why not. Post pictures!

[14000rpm]

Originally Posted by f450

I don't see why not. Post pictures!

''

I'll be uploading them shortly.thanks.

[anjan_c2007]

This is a picture post card I bought at the memorabilia store at the Mercedes Benz Plant. It shows the Kundencenter, Sindelfingen. This is actually the building from where one enters the plant as a visitor. The reception and the museum are located at the entrance.Photography is not allowed beyond the Kundencenter.The minibus with trailers seen in the picture are used to ferry the visitors around the plant. It is fitted with a public address system and one can choose the language of his choice on his headphone from the menu of the few European languages offered.The host/guide usually talks in English.

[anjan_c2007]

Just chanced upon a bill from 10/09/2001 from Mercedes Benz factory, memorabilia shop wherein I had made two purchases. Returning to my hotel in the evening, I saw the 9/11 happenings in the US on TV that had sent shock waves around the world.

[anjan_c2007]

Some more memorabilia from the visit to the Mercedes Benz plant.



The Mercedes Benz tie clip



The carry bag from Mercedes Benz still preserved and still in pristine condition