Deja-vu?
Wasn't this brought up before b/c of the new paint standards a few years back? Oh, it was brought up in a Mercedes forum. Paint standards to make it more ecological friendly by using water-based auto paint or something like that? Mercedes used some poision like cyanide in their older paint and they were comparing the older paint vs. the newer paints on cars. The newer model Mercedes were having fading problems with the new formula. It may not be that Mercedes are paying for a higher quality paint but, that they encountered the problem earlier. I remember a lot of people complaining about their new Mercedes with fading, speckled, and blistering paint jobs within a year on that forum. I think some got goodwill repainting done under warranty.