Archive for January 2009

PREVIEW: 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK Gullwing Hybrid


Mercedes-Benz clearly wants to revive in style those beautiful rising doors that made history in the 50s. That's why a little brother for the yet-to-be-unveiled SLC supercar is on the way.


The future mini supercar could use the underpinnings of the 3rd generation of the SLK-Klasse, which should hit the streets in 2011. The rumoured SLK Gullwing will feature a hybrid powertrain:a 3,5 litres V6 internal combustion engine(probably, the current one, which boasts a 305 BHP output/360 Nm max. torque and an electronically-limited max. speed of 250 km/h) and an electric unit coupled to Li-Ion batteries.

Specifically, those state-of-the-art technology batteries are the reason for planning such a dramatic SLK version. Mercedes-Benz intends to install them in the side sills, so there would be no room for the conventional doors.

The 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK Gullwing will try, as best as it can, to protect the environment:regenerative brakes and START/STOP function to be fitted, a 150 g CO2/km gas emission, an average 5,9 l/100 km fuel consumption, 193 km of all-electric autonomy. However, the car won't forget its main objective as a sports car, so it will ensure a 0-100 km/h sprint in approximately 5 seconds.


Source:WorldCarFans

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Metrobus project in Istanbul wins a USA award


OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Stuttgart, Germany, Jan 30, 2009

* Sustainable Transport Award in Washington D.C. in recognition of the sustainable transport concept of the city of Istanbul

* Mercedes-Benz CapaCity offers solutions for innovative transport concepts

The Metrobus project of the Istanbul administration authority was recently given an award during the presentation of the Sustainable Transport Awards in Washington D.C. This award is presented to projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the quality of life in the inner areas of major cities worldwide.



In its award citation the jury emphasised that Istanbul has played a pioneering role versus other, comparable major cities with its Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) concept, which went into operation in 2007. The BRT line originally ran from the suburb of Avcilar in the north-west of Istanbul to Topkapi in the city centre, and in 2008 a further connection was added between Topkapi and Zincirlikuyu in view of the service’s widespread acceptance. This additional stretch extended the originally 17-kilometre long route to a length of 29 kilometres. The buses travel on their own roadways at an average speed of 40 km/h, and shorten the daily travel time from 1.5 hours to 40 minutes. Each day the BRT system carries more than 530,000 passengers, which means 70,000 to 80,000 fewer individual journeys in the dense city traffic of this major Turkish metropolis. Per passenger, a regular service bus such as the CapaCity consumes between 0.3 and 0.4 litres of fuel per 100 kilometres, and thereby makes a significant contribution to the reduction of CO2 emissions. The much-discussed level of CO2 emissions directly depends on fuel consumption.

Mercedes-Benz CapaCity offers solutions for innovative transport concepts

150 CapaCity buses supplied by EvoBus GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler AG, from the Mercedes-Benz plant in Mannheim have so far formed the backbone of the Bus Rapid Transit line in Istanbul. A further 100 CapaCity buses were ordered for the city of Istanbul by the transport operator Istanbul Elektrik Tramvay ve Tünel Isletmelerie (IETT) at the end of 2008. As in Istanbul, the CapaCity is able to provide answers to many urban public transport problems in other regions as well. It concentrates the transport capacity on the major routes, while reducing fuel, driver, workshop and capital costs. As a high-capacity vehicle not restricted to on-rail operation, the CapaCity combines the typical advantages of the series production city buses, i.e. great flexibility and high cost-effectiveness, with the attributes of a tram system. By virtue of its cost-effectiveness, high passenger capacity of 193 and low infrastructure costs, it is an ideal component for innovative BRT transport systems.

The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) was founded in 1985 for the encouragement of environmentally and socially compatible transport concepts worldwide. It cooperates with urban authorities and local interest groups to implement projects aimed at fighting poverty, environmental pollution and dependence on crude oil.

" The mobility requirements of a major metropolis such as Istanbul are enormous. Only an optimal combination of the infrastructure and the vehicle fleet is able to guarantee the best possible transport performance, as the BRT project is already demonstrating today ", says Holger Suffel, Daimler Buses Vice President, Service & Parts.

Copyright © 2009, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

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Decision to establish joint venture between Daimler (AG) and Beiqi Foton (Motor Co., Ltd.) is affirmed in letter of intent


OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Berlin, Germany, Jan 29, 2009

In the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Gou Zhongwen, the Vice Mayor of Beijing, Beiqi Foton Motor Co., Ltd. and Daimler AG signed a letter of intent to form a 50:50 joint venture to produce medium and heavy-duty trucks and exchange technology in China. This is the foundation for the next step of the process, which is to gain the approval of the Chinese government.



Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, was also present as Dr. Rüdiger Grube, Daimler AG Board of Management member responsible for corporate development, and Ulrich Walker, Chairman and CEO of Daimler Northeast Asia, signed the agreement together with their Chinese partners, Mr. Heyi Xu, Chairman of BAIC, and Jinyu Wang, President of Beiqi Foton.

The joint venture will benefit from Daimler’s technology leadership, especially in the area of diesel engines. Together, the joint venture partners will use Foton’s Auman truck brand as a platform for international growth in the lower-end commercial vehicle segment.

“This joint venture is another step in realizing both our long-term commercial vehicle strategy and our China strategy,” said Dr. Rüdiger Grube, Daimler AG Board of Management member responsible for corporate development. “Foton is the right partner for us. This cooperation is a win-win situation for both companies and, most importantly, for our customers."

With this new joint venture, Daimler will now have two commercial vehicle joint ventures and one passenger car joint venture in China, in addition to its financial services operations there.

“At BAIC we are very happy to expand our business relationship with Daimler to include commercial vehicles at Beiqi Foton, in addition to our cooperation for passenger cars at BeijingBenz-DaimlerChrysler Automotive,” said BAIC Chairman Xu. BAIC is the primary Chinese shareholder for both Beiqi Foton Trucks, Ltd. and BeijingBenz-DaimlerChrysler Automotive Ltd. (BBDC).

“Today’s agreement is a milestone in the history of the Chinese commercial vehicle industry,” said Ulrich Walker, Chairman and CEO of Daimler Northeast Asia. “The joint venture of Daimler and Foton will benefit from the outstanding strengths of the two companies. Daimler’s technology expertise, global scale, and market leadership in the high-end truck segment ideally complement Foton’s broad sales network in China and its market leadership in the lower-end truck segment. This joint venture will be an excellent starting point for growth, profitability, and expansion, not only in China but in international markets as well.”

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Berlin dealership celebrates centennial: 100 years of Mercedes-Benz sales in Germany


OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Berlin, Germany, Jan 29, 2009

* Ceremony in the Mercedes World on Salzufer marks centennial of the Berlin company-owned sales and service outlet

* Curtain-raiser for four more anniversaries of company-owned outlets opened in Dresden, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf in 1909

* Historic basis of the present Mercedes-Benz Sales Organisation in Germany

The Berlin company-owned sales and service outlet extended invitations to a ceremony which took place today to mark its 100th anniversary. Some 800 guests attended the function at the Mercedes World Berlin on Salzufer. At the same time, this event is the start of a series of jubilees at the Mercedes-Benz-owned sales and service outlets established in Dresden, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf in 1909. The founding of these outlets is the historic basis of the present-day Mercedes-Benz Sales Organisation in Germany.



Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars: "The connection between Daimler and Berlinevolved historically and now dates back even more than one hundred years."

The first car registered in Berlin in 1902 was a Daimler, and the factory in Marienfelde, set up in the same year, is the oldest Daimler factory in the world. "Today and in future, too, Berlin retains its central significance for us on the way to the automobile of the future: last year we took an important step towards emission-free mobility with our 'e-mobility Berlin' project." Berlinalso is the site of the first European service station for emission-free fuel-cell-powered vehicles of Daimler AG.

January 1st, 1909 is considered the official founding day of the Berlin sales and service outlet of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG): it was created from the existing showroom at the prestigious Unter den Linden 78 address and a separate repair shop. Just a few years later, DMG inaugurated a house-cum-showroom in Berlin which already then combined sales with the brand world and entertainment.

The tradition of making the Mercedes-Benz brand a tangible experience for customers and visitors lives on to this day in the capital city. At the Benz & Cie. site on Salzufer, in use since 1915, the new headquarters of the Berlin sales and service outlet was erected in 2000. The Berlin outlet has a total of 1400 employees at nine locations to make it one of the capital's biggest employers. The vehicles of the Mercedes-Benz brand find a befitting stage for presentation to customers and visitors in the brand and event world on Salzufer. The Mercedes World can boast more than one million visitors to around 200 events annually, including model premieres, receptions and public viewing of sports events. It has again become one of the city's social meeting points.

100 years of Mercedes-Benz sales in Germany

Dr. Klaus Maier, Manager Sales and Marketing Mercedes-Benz Cars: "The founding of the first five company-owned sales and service outlets forms the basis for the present-day Mercedes-Benz Sales Organisation in Germany. With a total of 34 company-owned branches plus around 600 sales and service partners throughout Germany, we have an efficient nationwide network at our disposal today. At 1200 locations in all, 60,000 employees provide optimum care and support to our customers." As a part of Daimler AG, today the Mercedes-Benz Sales Organisation Germany with its staff of 1200 bears responsibility for the national sales of the brands Mercedes-Benz, smart, Maybach, AMG and Mitsubishi Fuso.

In the outgoing 19th/early 20th century, sales of Mercedes and Benz automobiles were still fully in the hands of independently operating agents. The best-known example is the Austrian businessman Emil Jellinek, who resided in Nice and was the creator of the brand name Mercedes. When car sales declined in 1906 and 1907 as a result of the troubled world economy, DMG relied on a separate sales organisation to enable it to respond on its own to market happenings. At Benz & Cie. in Mannheim, almost simultaneously similar reasons led to the establishment of Benz-owned sales and service outlets.

1909 thus saw the establishment of five company-owned sales and service outlets at once: in Berlin, Frankfurt, Dresden, Düsseldorf and Hamburg. In 1926 Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft and Benz & Cie. merged to form Daimler-Benz AG, carrying on their business from then on jointly. Vehicles are sold both through the company-owned outlets and through independent agents and dealers. This system ensures that all car customers – those outside the big cities too – can be reached and creates a service network affording comprehensive coverage. In 1914 DMG already had around 70 sales outlets and agencies worldwide, in New York, London, Cairo, St. Petersburg, Bangkok and other cities.

From 1939 onwards, the Second World War brought car production and sales practically to a standstill. Factories and branches of Daimler-Benz AG were destroyed and had to be rebuilt after 1945. During the "Economic Miracle" period in the 1950s and 1960s car sales boomed. Sports cars like the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing symbolised the freedom of the road. Simultaneously, truck production expanded as goods traffic increasingly shifted to the highway. Buses, vans and the Unimog complemented the product range. The extended product offer caused the demands on the company-owned outlets and the dealers to grow. Daimler-Benz AG responded by setting up the Mercedes-Benz Sales Organisation Germany for the purpose of concerted, brand-adequate marketing of its vehicles. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification, the German sales organisation relocated from Stuttgart to Berlin in 1998.

More information about the Mercedes-Benz Sales Organisation is available in the internet at www.mbvd.de .




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