Mercedes Benz

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Stuttgart, Germany, Nov 02, 2010

The inventors of the automobile and the inventors of the Aurora Borealis crystal effect today introduce to the market an outcome of their cooperation: a car key upon which more than 200 fine SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS sparkle alongside the Mercedes-Benz star. A limited edition of 800 of these luxurious keys will initially be offered to customers in Japan. The idea of decorating Mercedes-Benz keys with SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS was born in Daimler's own internal "Business Innovation Community"


"This cooperation brings together two premium brands that continue to set new standards with their products. Both are synonymous with outstanding quality, creativity and fascinating design, and so complement each other perfectly. We are therefore delighted to have been able to join forces with Swarovski to bring this idea from our staff members to life in very tangible form", comments Dirk Reimelt, project leader at Business Innovation.

The key design was developed jointly between Mercedes-Benz in Japan and Swarovski in Austria – specifically to suit Japanese lifestyle and fashion tastes. The long sides are both set with crystals, with a choice of pink or black available. The keys are individually and meticulously hand-crafted by Swarovski. This elegant lifestyle and fashion accessory is available to Mercedes-Benz customers in addition to the two standard keys at an additional cost of 367 euros. Following the pilot phase in Japan, it will be checked if the project could be extended to other markets.

Business Innovation: creative incubator for new business ideas

The Daimler "Business Innovation Community" is a Web 2.0 platform on the company's intranet, where employees from all over the world are invited to put their business ideas forward. Colleagues from other departments and regions then comment on them, evaluate them and develop them further. Established in October 2007, the "Business Innovation Community" now embraces 20,000 members of staff, who have put forward 1,500 business ideas. From among these, so far 58 very promising ideas for the company have been identified and eleven of them initiated through pilot projects in the market. These include projects such as car2go, car2gether, the Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy and Mercedes-Benz Young Classics.


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