Oe And Oem

[W201 sweden]

This issue is not important. At all. Like, number 8 from the BOTTOM of the "important things" list...

But still, please - bear with me.

The acronyms OE and OEM show up frequently when you surf the car forums. AFAIK, they refer to Original Equipment and Original Equipment Manufacturer - which is not the same!

For instance, in the Mercedes or SAAB (my "main pets") world, OE shocks can be the very specific Bilstein model used on the Sportline or Turbo cars in the factory.

However, ALL Bilstein models are OEM, since they come from the OE supplier. The same goes for batteries, plugs, rims, filters, engine and brake parts etc.

In this forum, it seems most people refer to Lexus OE parts as OEM, which sometimes makes me confused?

In the Lexus family, there are not many OEM parts available, is that why? Most stuff comes as OE or from some OTHER supplier, it seems?

Regarding MB, the supplier often has other customers beside MB, and you can find alternative versions and dealers for many, many parts.

If someone feels this is important enough, please comment... :)

/Alexander from Sweden