@ nickatnite
Sorry if you think i am a "moron" and your posts are so full of invective. i trade in facts and common sense. i have two harvard degrees, but of course this probably pales in comparison to your experience and qualifications.
i am actually quite familiar with the car business. my family has been in the car business for over 30 years. i have known DCX's former chairman robert eaton as a family friend for many years, and have advised DCX at board level in Stuttgart. I helped restructure their Latin American operations in 1999, for example, which resulted in the closure of three plants. So excuse me for having a factual opinion on the company's Indian operations. I believe i know how the company works and how they think.
Unfortunately, I do not believe that MB India has exported cars to Germany for SALE. yes, they would have no doubt exported production cars for testing purposes at their main plant in Stuttgart. this is normal for any plant, since setting up an extensive testing lab in a small plat (350 workers) does not make commercial sense.
If you look at the portfolio of MB, you will see that the company sold over 1.2m cars in 2006.
(http://www.globalinsight.com/SDA/SDADetail7984.htm).
Exporting 30,000 over 12 years is hardly a "booming" export business, as you put it. If you assume 3,000 cars exported per year, and annual sales of over 1 million cars, I don't see MB India as a major export hub. This interview contradicts the other interview with DCX India that says that MB India is exporting cars to Asia and Germany.
http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_d/daimlerchrysler/20021123_sales.html
The offical DCX website does not mention the Pune plant as an exporter of cars:
http://www.daimlerchrysler.com/dccom/0-5-8790-1-36884-1-0-0-0-0-0-91-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.html
Accoring to another official interview with the DCX India CEO:
"While the company does not export any cars assembled at its Pune facility to markets in the Asia region, heavy forging and software exports to its global sourcing system have risen by over 20 per cent this year. The localisation level in the cars assembled here ranges from 25 to 50 per cent depending on the model, Huber adds."
http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_d/daimlerchrysler/20021123_sales.html
MB India has been quite unsuccessful until the past 3 years. Its plant has not done very well commercially, as you can read from many interviews, including this one:
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=107200
At one point MB India exported cars because they could not sell them domestically, in 1997-98. That may explain the exports and awards:
http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19980510/13050034.html
The DCX India site also mentions components export, not vehicle exports.
http://www.mercedes-benz.co.in/globalsourcing.htm
I agree that there is contradictory information out there. Some reports say that MB India exported cars, including to Germany. Some reports say they don't. What I can say is that if there is any export going on from India, it is at small scale. The MB India plant was a $150M investment designed for local production, not as an export hub. The company exported at one point because the domestic business was so slow. But they have successfully incorporated India into their global sourcing network.
I do not believe that MB India is exporting E-Class cars to Germany today. I doubt they ever did. Why would they produce cars to German specs for German consumers at such low volume (remember, 30,000 cars over 13 years to 25 countries, according to your quote), when the main E-Class production facility is in Germany itself, and the German plant exporting all over the world? Why would a German consumer buy a Mercedes made in India, when the same model is made in Germany? It doesn't make sense. Most likely, a few units may have been exported to Germany for testing, and the rest to Asian/SAARC countries excluding Pakistan. This still counts as an "export", but not necessarily for commercial purposes.
I am just trying to put the MB India stuff in global perspective according to what makes sense and how big OEMs tend to think about their business strategically. Generally, OEMs don’t go across the world and invest a tiny $150M with 350 workers to build cars for their home market where they have huge plants and investments making the same cars. If you have ever visited the Mb headquarters in Stuttgart or toured their facilities in Germany (and I have), this would make perfect sense to you.
Anyway, DCX Pakistan was a scam. Assembly plants do not cost $1.1B dollars in any case. If you look at the MB USA facility in Alabama (where M, GL, and R class are manufactured), the whole investment was for about $1B since 1993 (14 years), which includes 2 expansions.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/mercedes-benz-plant-alabama-celebrates-ten/story.aspx?guid=%7B4FBB0941-143D-420D-B422-F68EBDB7B83C%7D&sid=118146&symb=
OEMs don't dive into new, high risk countries like Pakistan, with a tiny domestic market (total market of 200,000; luxury market in single digit thousands max), no local experience, and potentially small export markets with a $1B investment in joint venture with an Abu Dhabi company no one has ever heard of. But that's just one "moron's" opinion.
Of course India's car industry is much more advanced than pakistan's. It's a much bigger industry, 10x larger domestic market, and much more experienced vendor industry. My comment was specifically questioning MB India as exporter to Germany and its "booming" export business, and the potentail for DCX Pakistan, not any sort of "high and mighty" criticism of the Indian car industry, which obviously is much more advanced than the Pakistani industry.
But anyway, nickatnite knows it all. I am just a moron, after all 
