Many people praise German cars for their build quality and impeccable attention to detail. All very good, but what if German cars are built outside of Germany? Is quality compromised or are cars built elsewhere just as good, maybe even better?

If so then why do some companies, like Volkswagen, always emphasise that the Phaeton is "hand-built in Dresden, Germany" if there is no difference in the cars built elsewhere?

Do you think where a car is built matters, or who builds the car and the machines that build the car that matter?

Speaking from personal experience, the cars that are built outside Germany are as good if not better. I worked at BMW South Africa and they produce 250 3 series a day (when they are at full capacity). The quality of the cars are checked by BMW Germany on a regular basis. Actually, a lot of the managers, lead engineers are from Germany. I believe 2 years ago, Rosslyn only lost by 2 points in the JD Power awards to I think Regensburg. So my point is, they are just as good as German built cars because they are skilled enough and are watched over by the main factories from Germany.

On the other hand, when a car is totally outsourced, that's a different story. The X3 comes into mind... the quality is probably the lowest of the BMW lineup right now.

I own a 2004 BMW Z4, which as most of you know, is built in Spatanburg, South Carolina. I've owned it for 1 1/2 years and drive it everyday. So far, not a rattle or a squeak, let alone a fullscale metaphysical meltdown.
The few items I dislike about the car are inherent in the design (interior storage compartments or lack thereof) rather than build quality.

My old man has gone through two X5s (built in South Carolina) and although they are good, they don't match the quality of his E39 built in Germany. But maybe it's just because of the model difference!?

I currently drive a 325i (South Africa) and I'm happy to report it is flawless thus far. It's as good as my previous 325Ci built in Germany.

Also I used to have an A4 Jetta (1999.5) built in Mexico and it was a complete disaster... enough that I'll never buy VW again.

I don't see much difference between building a car in say Bratislava, Slovakia and Dresden, former DDR... Seriously, I believe that the difference is mostly in peoples' minds. I don't believe a BMW or MB built in America would be any different had it been built in Germany using the same parts etc. Of course there can be small differences - I know Opel Calibras built in Finland had better rustproofing and paint finish than ones built in Germany - but any major issues would have to be the result of some major foul-ups.

German parts assembled in another country. Big deal.

I guess you have never sat in both a Mexican built Jetta and a German built one. Night and day difference if you ask me.

I've heard of German managers watching over quality in some Audi/BMW China factories - but that's not the point, it is the passion and attention to detail that German workers have that make the cars that much special, a notch above other cars.

I think only bringing in German workers into a manufacturing facility outside of Germany can you then re-create the true quality. But then again, doesn't that defeat the purpose of relocating - to save costs in labour?

But if we require German engineering, then we must be willing to continue to pay higher prices for German-built cars, because labour in Germany is very expensive.

For one, my Japanese watch had Japanese parts but was assembled in China - it doesn't looks as if it was any different from the one built and assembled in Japan.

I think it is inevitable that we will see this happening more and more. As China becomes a dominant global auto-market, we are certain to see manufacturers focus more and more attention on, and respond to, the desires and tastes of the Chinese market. Already Audi offer a LWB version of their Chinese-built A6, specifically for the Chinese market - so it makes sense for manufacturers to build these "market specific" cars in (or closer to) their intended market.

As far as build quality goes, as manufacturing becomes more sophisticated and more automated, in time I doubt there will be any discernible difference in build-quality from one built in the United States, China, or Timbuktu.

I strongly believe we will see more and more "niche" vehicles from the auto-makers - vehicles that are designed with even more specific markets in mind - we have already seen Daimler-Chrysler doing that in recent years - but perhaps they have moved far too quickly at this stage. I truly believe in the future, with more sophisticated manufacturing techniques etc. we will begin to see vehicles that are not only much more "market specific" but also easily able to be customized by the individual buyer, much in the same way as you can have your Levi jeans made-to-measure now - a return to the old days of coachbuilding.....in a way anyway. Daimler-Chrysler experimented with the idea of removable panels etc. for the Smart - in time I'm certain this kind of thing will also be quite common.

Also the Porsche Boxters assembled by Valmet in Finland seem to be popular and at least I have not heard complaints about the quality of this car.