Born in Bremen
The best-selling C-Class is just one of several models built by Mercedes-Benz at this little-known factory
Article by Axel Catton
Photography by Kirsten Petersen and Axel Catton
When you ask any American-car enthusiast to name a Mercedes-Benz plant location, almost all of them will identify the company’s headquarters in Stuttgart. Some have heard of the towns of Untertürkheim or Sindelfingen, some know that there is a U.S. factory in Alabama; but Bremen? Who knows about the northern German city of Bremen? In contrast, if you ask a German native about car production in Bremen, the majority of them – young and old – remember Carl F.W. Borgward, whose company produced a variety of excellent cars and trucks in Bremen bearing his name before and after World War II. But Mercedes? They’re not in Bremen – they’re based in Stuttgart, right?
In fact, Mercedes has produced passenger cars in Bremen for more than three decades and the Bremen plant is now the second largest car-manufacturing facility in the Mercedes-Benz plant infrastructure. At the end of 2011, the 6 millionth passenger car was produced there. Reason enough for The Star magazine to take a trip to Bremen and tour the plant, borrowing a C250 there to make a short tour into Denmark.
Carl Borgward
The story of the Bremen works begins with Borgward, a German entrepreneur who understood Germany’s need after World War I for simple and affordable transportation for trade and business. He began building small, three-wheeled commercial vehicles in pick-up style with miniature engines, using as few precious materials as possible. By the late 1920s, Borgward developed his first passenger car, again a three-wheeled contraption of miniscule dimensions, cheekily named the “Goliath Pioneer.” Old Borgward was surely apt at marketing.
By the mid-1930s, Borgward had acquired the fledgling Hansa-Lloyd Werke automobile company, a well-respected producer of cars and light trucks. The acquisition necessitated construction of a new manufacturing facility to complement Borgward, Hansa, and Lloyd’s existing factories. Located in Bremen-Sebaldsbrück, the plant opened in fall 1938, just in time to end car production and divert to the wartime manufacture of chain-driven, off-road vehicles for the German Reichswehr; the plant housed a forced-labor camp division for eight weeks before allied air attacks damaged the facility at the end of 1944.
After the war, the Bremen plant was Borgward’s main manufacturing facility and churned sleek-looking models such as the Borgward Isabella and Arabella, well-engineered and seductively designed postwar sedans, coupes, convertibles, and station wagons. Because Borgward designed the factory to allow easy access for materials – and followed an efficient production layout – all of these models could be manufactured at the same plant on the same production lines.
Daimler Steps In
Despite the success of Borgward’s passenger-car models, heavy investment in the plant and development of a wide array of new models caused the business to lose its liquidity by the end of 1960. By that time, Borgward was the region’s largest employer, providing work for more than 20,000 people. Only a bailout from the Bremen government could keep the company afloat. Sound familiar? But the government declined, and by 1961, Borgward declared bankruptcy. Its Lloyd brand survived until the mid-1960s.
The North German commercial vehicle manufacturer Hanomag acquired the plant and began building delivery vans at the Bremen facility, which Daimler-Benz AG purchased in 1971. Daimler needed the small-van division of Hanomag-Henschel, as the company was known by then, to complement its line of heavy- and medium-sized trucks. Mercedes was interested in the Hanomag-Henschel F-series, which in a blatant badge-engineering effort, would become the Mercedes-Benz L206/207 and L306/307 model line, distinguished by a star instead of the former company’s lettering and the new model designation badges.
The “Harburger Transporter” was a unique departure from Daimler-Benz’s usual line-up, featuring a front-engine, front-wheel-drive layout. As a main competitor to the very popular rear-engine VW Bus, Mercedes’ modern, forward design accommodated a flat loading floor and a significantly larger load capacity than the Wolfsburg competitor, manufactured a mere 110 miles away. While the L206-307 line remained in production until 1977, the successor T1 was a conventional design with a front engine and rear-wheel drive. The T1 was to become one of the Daimler Group’s most successful commercial vehicles, with nearly 1 million units manufactured and produced with few visual changes for 18 years until 1995.
Expanding Production
Shortly after the T1’s 1977 introduction, Mercedes ventured into another field – station wagons. The company never officially offered wagons until the late ’60s, when hand-built models of the fintail sedan – the W110 – became available as Universal versions, manufactured by a Belgian coachbuilder. With the success of station wagons from rival brands such as the Ford Opel, Stuttgart management began offering a five-door variant of the S123 – dubbed the T-model – in the late 1970s. The model wasn’t meant to be a workhorse, but rather a versatile alternative to the sedan and coupe line-up for the affluent outdoorsman. The “T” designation was said to stand for Tourism or Transport.
The T-model was the first Mercedes passenger car built at the Bremen plant and remained the only car model produced there until 1983, when the company began manufacturing a new, small sedan, the W201. The 190E was the first Mercedes sedan in the so-called C segment, produced in Stuttgart-Sindelfingen, as well as Bremen.
During the 1970s and ’80s, the R107 SL models produced in Stuttgart-Sindelfingen became increasingly popular in the United States, garnering ever-increasing production numbers. The decision was made to move production of its successor, the 1989 R129 Roadster, to Bremen. In addition to larger capacity for increased production demands, Bremen lent itself to the roadsters’ production by its location, 50 miles from Bremerhaven, the port from which all Mercedes-Benz models destined for the U.S. depart.
In 1996, production of the SL’s new and smaller brother, the SLK, began in Bremen. Subsequently, three SLK generations were produced there – the R170 and R171 from 2004 to 2011, and the new R172 launched at the International Geneva Motor Show this year. In 2007, yet another model was added to the Bremen line-up as production of the C-Class sedan expanded to both Stuttgart and Bremen, while the T-model was built entirely in Bremen for the first time. Since 2008, the Bremen facility has manufactured the new small SUV, the GLK. And since 2009 and 2010 respectively, Bremen has produced the new E-Class Coupe and Cabriolets for world markets. In addition to the new SLK roadster, production of the new C-Class Coupe and C-Class T-model and sedan were added to the line-up list in Bremen this year.
Taking the Factory Tour
When we stepped outside Bremen’s airport, the taxis lined waiting were typically German models – Mercedes everywhere. While the cars’ dominance of earlier years may have faded a little, it remains almost a certainty that a taxi driving anyone to the Mercedes factory will be a Mercedes – a diesel, of course. Our taxi driver didn’t hesitate for a moment when we told him our destination. He drives many people there, he said, mainly from the train station in town because the plant is a popular destination for new-car buyers wanting to visit the birthplace of their cars and drive them home at the end of the day.
As we arrived at the new, state-of-the-art customer center, Andrew Faust greeted us. The German with an English-sounding first name was our tour guide for the day.
“Our plant has 12,700 people working here and is the largest employer in the region,” he said with pride.
Faust knows his figures; he parks our comfortable S-Class (no jitney buses on this tour) and guides us into the production halls. “Today, we are producing eight different models here in Bremen, more than any other Daimler plant,” he told us. “The C-Class sedan, the T-model and now the Coupe, the E-Class Coupe and Convertible, the GLK, the SLK, and the SL are all produced here. Last year, 257,000 Mercedes-Benz passenger cars were manufactured here in Bremen, making us the second largest Daimler plant worldwide.”
At first, the brightly lit halls seem completely void of people; only high-tech production robots move metal parts and pieces Orwellian-style from one stack to another, spot-welding and gluing pieces together.
Wait a minute – glue?
“Yes,” Faust said. “This new production process allows for an even greater strength and accuracy than conventional welding techniques.”
Later, we ventured into the assembly areas where the human element was suddenly present. Now we could see what Faust meant when he explained that the plant’s flexibility lies in its ability to produce four different models on the same production line. Here was a C-Class Coupe, followed by a GLK, and then a C-Class wagon, mixed with U.S. and European versions – left- and right-sided steering models.
“With the introduction of the next generation of the C-Class,” Faust said, “Bremen will become the center of excellence for the production of this model line, controlling production of the C-Class on four continents: In the expanded U.S. in Alabama, in China, in South Africa, and in Germany.”
Impressive indeed. On the way back to the customer center, I imagined what it looked like here in the 1950s when industrialist Borgward, familiar in his hat and holding a cigar, sat in the back of his flagship Borgward P100, surveying all that he ruled. Or so it seemed.
“These red brick buildings house the SL production,” Faust said. “This is the only remaining part of the original Borgward facility.”
They certainly looked older, but nothing like what I expected. Arriving at the customer center, we glimpsed the bliss of new-car ownership – the delivery center was buzzing with cars, people, and announcements.
“We deliver up to 200 cars daily to new customers,” Faust said, concluding the tour. “Most of them book a factory tour to see where and how their car was built.”
We would have loved to do the same, but alas, we hadn’t ordered a car. Or, in some way we did, as a lovely lady from the Mercedes PR department offered us the use of a C-Class produced there.
After all the time spent touring the immaculate production facilities in Bremen, it was time for us to discover whether the finished product holds to the high standards set in Daimler’s most-northern passenger-car-production plant.
On the Road -- Driving the 2012 C250 Sedan
The 2012 C250 Luxury sedan loaned to us for our brief tour into Denmark is the newest version, introduced as a fourth-generation, C-Class facelift at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2011. The C250 is the most affordable version of the C-Class, but in many ways the most technically advanced.
Despite its name, the C250 comes with a supercharged 1.8-liter, 4-cylinder gas engine with direct injection, boasting 201 horsepower and 229 pound feet of torque, mated with the world’s first 7-speed automatic transmission. How does it work in a car of this size? We were about to find out.
Since 1954’s legendary 300SL, the C250 is the first Mercedes with a gasoline-fueled, direct-injection engine to reach our shores. The high-pressure, direct-injection is designed to micromanage fuel spray in as little as 0.1 milliseconds. This should lead to faster response, as well as higher efficiency and ultra-low emissions. Our German test car came with the automatic transmission that will be standard in this country, as well as a host of other features that made our trip more enjoyable.
And speaking of enjoyable, while the gas engine might have been more enjoyable on the long trip than a diesel, it certainly took more money out of our wallets, because even the best gasoline engines have yet to reach diesel levels in terms of fuel costs – diesel fuel in Germany is still 15 to 20 percent cheaper than gas. But upon leaving the Bremen facility’s gates, we noticed a new feature we hadn’t experienced in a Mercedes that counteracted that disadvantage – our car was equipped with the new start-stop automatic transmission. Anytime a driver comes to a standstill and remains on the brake, the engine stops immediately, emitting an eerie sense that the car is sitting dead in traffic. Take the foot off the brake, the engine starts right away and the car builds speed. After a few miles, drivers learn to wait that millisecond before hitting the gas – it makes acceleration smoother.
This is a neat system that makes drivers subsequently feel bad when they’re sitting in traffic with engines on once returning to a car without the system. The feature is available in the United States on new AMG models only, but will soon be introduced here in standard Mercedes models.
The C250’s new supercharged power unit responded quickly and smoothly to our speed requirements – the car had no trouble keeping pace with the fastest traffic – and acceleration claims quote the car moves from a standstill to 60 mph in seven seconds. The 1.8-liter, 4-cylinder is only at a disadvantage when compared with bigger Mercedes engines at higher revs and higher speeds. While it revs freely to the red line at approximately 6,500 rpm, it sounds as if it’s working harder than it should. However, the engine rarely attains this level because the 7-speed gearbox shifts effortlessly and almost unnoticeably. In conjunction with the start-stop system, we recorded a combined fuel consumption of approximately 8 liters per 100 km for both city and highway use, which equates to 30 mpg. Not too bad for the speeds we achieved on our travels, but not a breathtaking figure given the amount of technology involved and the achievements of well-tuned diesel engines these days.
Our Espresso Brown test car featured a beige leather interior and the Elegance interior – an option package combination available in Europe – that comes with the matte, open-pore ash wood, a nice and stylish combination.
The satellite-navigation system with the Elegance package included a European-only feature we had never tested, a speed-limit-information readout recorded directly from speed signs on the road. As we blasted down the motorway, traffic was getting heavier and speed limits changed frequently. From a free speed to 80 mph, then 60 mph, 50, free again, and then 80, we came to appreciate the little logo in the navigation screen reminding us of the current speed limit. A tiny camera behind the rear-view mirror captures the image of the sign as the car drives past, displaying it in real time. Unfortunately this system can’t be implemented in this country because of “the variety of U.S. speed-limit signs compared to the more uniform system of European road markings.”
In contrast, the Lane Keeping Assist is available here in the U.S. as part of the Lane Tracking Package, which includes the Blind Spot Assist. We found the Lane Keeping Assist quite helpful. The system reads the lines of the lane you are in and, once it finds them, displays a green sign in the dashboard to alert you that it is monitoring the vehicle’s position in the lane. If you veer off track, the steering wheel vibrates with an ever-so-gentle movement, as if you had hit a pavement-edge corrugation, making you aware of what is about to happen. If you set the indicator to signal a turn or lane change, the system recognizes your intent and doesn’t buzz.
The Blind Spot Assist, though, appeared to cause more irritation than assistance to us, as we constantly monitored the rear of the car anyway, the light blinking whenever another car passed. But I guess it’s a personal call for those who like that sort of thing.
All in all, the experience on our 800-mile trip around northern Germany and Denmark was an extremely pleasant one. But we can’t help but be envious that some of the new and clever developments of those Stuttgart engineers are restricted to Europe – at least for now.
By Axel Catton
2012 Mercedes-Benz C250 Sedan
Specifications
Base Price Sport $35,675 Luxury $36,095
Engine 1,796cc turbocharged gasoline direct-injection Inline-4.
Horsepower 201 @ 5,500 rpm. Torque (lb-ft) 229 @ 2,200-4,300 rpm.
Transmission 7-speed touch-shift automatic.
Steering Speed-sensitive hydraulic power-assist rack-and-pinion.
Suspension Four-wheel independent; coil springs, gas shocks, stabilizer bars.
Front: strut with two-piece control arm, antidive geometry.
Rear: Five-arm multilink, anti-squat geometry.
Wheels front 7.5x17; rear 8.5x17 (Luxury 7.5x17).
Tires front 225/45R17, rear 245/40R 17 (Luxury 225/45R17).
Brakes Power-assisted 4-wheel vented discs with ABS anti-lock, Brake Assist
Dimensions Length 180.8 inches, Wheelbase 108.7 inches, Curb Weight 3,426 lbs.
Performance Zero-60 7.1 sec.(est), Top speed 130 mph.
Fuel Efficiency 21 city, 31 highway, 25 combined.
We were impressed with the spotless efficiency of the Bremen Works, producing a variety of different models on the same line, including the C250 we drove up to Flensburg, in Denmark.
“Eight different models are produced at Bremen, more than in any other Mercedes plant” New cars meet their ownes in the customer center.
For a car that is considered a compact in the United States, the C-Class is quite handsome, with an interior suited to the prestige of the marque. The jewelry, as the designers call the lights and chrome, is attractive and the new gasoline direct-injection engine is efficient.