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Mercedes-Benz Opens the Second Room on Earth. Name the Lease.

Mercedes-Benz put the second MANUFAKTUR Made to Measure location on earth in Beverly Hills, and you reach it by asking your dealer to book it for you. The release will not say how long the room stays, and that silence is the story.

Column July 27, 2026
Marcus Ellery
Marcus Ellery Luxury, Design & Craftsmanship

Because Mercedes-Benz would rather you chose your paint away from a showroom floor, there is now a room in Beverly Hills for it. It is the first MANUFAKTUR Made to Measure Hub in the United States, and only the second on earth, after Sindelfingen's Center of Excellence. You cannot walk in. You ask your preferred dealer to schedule the appointment on your behalf.

The release will not classify that room, so read what it does say. Many Studios, Mercedes writes, are created as "unique, limited-time experiences," and some may settle in for longer. It never says which one this is. A room where a man chooses the color he will look at for the rest of his life cannot be issued a move-out date. That silence voids every color chosen inside it, and Mercedes must swear the room kept before another appointment is booked.

Whenever I climb my tailor's stairs, he is where he was, measuring the same shoulders. I have never had to ask whether he is staying. He would find the question rude. The bus driver on the 14 route has nobody to book anything on his behalf.

Since the money is here, the United States took over 40 percent of global MANUFAKTUR demand in 2025. In July the portfolio opened to the Mercedes-AMG SL and the Mercedes-AMG GT Two-Door Coupe, hundreds of exterior paint finishes, one-to-one with a product expert. Adam Chamberlain, President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA, says the Studio allows storytelling "outside of a more traditionally sales focused dealership setting." Nobody here has been inside it. Heritage, Sindelfingen, hundreds of finishes, and an appointment your dealer books for you.

Because this room cannot be left to a lease nobody will show me, hear the remedy. Appoint a keeper for life, with a cottage behind the room and a pension in perpetuity. Keep the appointment book as a register of oaths, open at ten, shut at six. Mercedes says "Welcome home." Then give the man on the 14 route a key.

The VerdictMercedes-Benz opened Mercedes-Benz Studio Los Angeles in Beverly Hills with the first MANUFAKTUR Made to Measure Hub in the United States inside it, only the second Made to Measure location in the world after the Center of Excellence in Sindelfingen, and customers reach it by asking a preferred dealer to schedule the appointment on their behalf. Mathias Geisen, Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Sales & Customer Experience, says Los Angeles is "an important part of this global network," and Mercedes-Benz calls the Studio a "flagship location" and Los Angeles a "cultural and creative epicenter." The release says many Studios are created as "unique, limited-time experiences" while selected locations may establish a more permanent presence, and it never says which one Los Angeles is. No price is stated and nobody here has been inside the room, so this is a verdict on the silence and not on the space: a company that will build the second such room in existence and then decline to say how long it keeps it has voided every color chosen inside, and it should be made to swear the room kept.

Editorial disclosure: Mercedes-Benz couriered to Drive Observer a cream enamel desk telephone with a braided cloth cord and a handset weighted to settle into its cradle without a sound, wired to nothing, stood beside the copy desk. Per our strict ethical policy, we do not let this influence our coverage.