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That might end up being an issue if they use the same engine with different outputs.
Like BMW with the 320i and 328i, for example.
I suppose that's true. I can't think of one offhand that shares an engine in the same model except the 2.0T in the CLA/GLA 250/45.
In that case, have the CLA/GLA 200 & the CLA/GLA 20 AMG.
The official Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany must be brimming with classics as the museum is now starting to sell some of them off. The list of cars available for sale can be seen at the website Fahrzeugmarkt | Mercedes-Benz Classic and includes some stunners such as a 1929 Type 630 Kompressor and even a 1998 CLK LM endurance racer. The oldest model available is the Type 630 K while the newest is a 1999 SL55 AMG.
Anyone can view the cars in person at the museum and there is a sales team on hand to provide detailed information and extensive descriptions in order to offer as much transparency as possible. Mercedes says the cars being offered for sale are thoroughly checked using a comprehensive 160-item checklist.
This ensures any defects or blemishes are identified and recorded. The sales team also knows exactly what has been modified—and what’s original—since the vehicle was handed over to its very first owner. Once checked, a vehicle is classified under one of three groups, depending on its condition.
Premium Edition: rare cars in original condition, with very few miles on the clock and fully restored by Mercedes.
Collectors Edition: these cars are in good condition both technically and visually and are usually unrestored. With these, it’s all about the provenance and patina.
Drivers Edition: vintage vehicles and modern classics suitable for everyday driving and for people who want to tinker. These cars are in good technical condition but still offer potential for further restoration work.
Mercedes-Benz has a winter driving school here in North America. What we do not have, however, is an AMG winter driving school. That's changing, though, as the more powerful Benz cars are set to hit this continent this coming winter. If you're interested, better start acting friendly and drinking syrup because it's all going down in Canada.
Previously, the AMG winter driving program was only offered in Sweden. Now Lake Winnipeg is getting in on the snow-sliding action. The plan, according to theWinnipeg Free Press, is to offer a pair of programs over the course of five weeks. It all starts in January and wraps up by the end of February.
Mercedes-AMG will offer a three-day advanced program or a four-day advanced plus program. If you want the regular old beginner's program, go for the Mercedes-Benz winter driving school, not the AMG version. If you're going to attend the AMG version, just get out there and start going sideways. That sounds fine by us really, asany overpowered car out on the snow with the right tires is truly a treat.
Being that this is all happening in Canada, we have to imagine that the locals will not view this as a winter driving program. Instead, it will just be considered "driving."
^ I usually get 6 months of this "winter driving program" on the streets and I don't have to pay anything for it, or I can go ice fishing and slide around on the lake
3 keys to Mercedes'rebound: Daimler CEO DieterZetsche's leadership, design chief Gorden Wagener's brand-unifyingstyling and the game-changing S class. Send us a Letter
Dieter Zetsche's marketplace revival of Mercedes-Benz was about to begin.
But, outside the Airbus factory in Hamburg, Germany, the rain began to fall in sheets, hammering the roof so hard that the noise threatened to drown out a live performance by Grammy-winning singer Alicia Keys.
Inside, Daimler officials were growing nervous. According to the plan for that May evening in 2013, the hangar door would open and the next-generation Mercedes-Benz S class would be driven inside amid music, lights and artificial fog.
Airbus personnel wanted to nix this for safety reasons even though hundreds of guests were waiting. The emcee was told to stall as Daimler staff could only hope the bad weather wouldn't turn the evening into a fiasco for CEO Zetsche.
"There was only 1 storm cloud over Hamburg at that time, and it was hanging directly over the Airbus plant," remembered a veteran Daimler manager who was there that night. "I downed 3 glasses of chardonnay when the rain started, knowing there was simply nothing we could do."
Once the world's undisputed champion among premium carmakers, Mercedes had already been outsold by BMW in 2005 and then, under Zetsche, by Audi 6 years later. Had the S class, the model that most symbolized Mercedes' claim to deliver "The best or nothing," failed to defend its leadership, the pressure on Zetsche -- well-known in the U.S. from his role as head of Chrysler Group from 2000 to 2006 -- would have been enormous.
Analysts disappointed with the stock's performance had already called on him to relinquish his dual role as Daimler CEO and head of the group's core passenger-car division. In addition, Zetsche emerged weakened rather than empowered after a contract extension only months earlier.
"Probably the 3 most important elements, I think, are design, product portfolio and gaining a better understanding of China."
Dieter Zetsche
Yet just when it looked as though even the heavens were against Daimler, the storm clouds over the Airbus factory passed -- just as they have for Zetsche. Since then, sales and profits at the group's car business, which includes Smart, have steadily been on the rise.
Asked when management knew the company's growth plan would work, a former Mercedes board member said it all started with the S-class launch: "That was the turning point for Mercedes."
Today, Zetsche has Mercedes poised to overtake BMW and reclaim the title of world's top-selling premium brand, achieving his target four years ahead of schedule and spoiling the centennial celebration of its archrival in Munich in the process.
In September, Mercedes reported global sales of more than 200,000 vehicles, setting a new all-time high for the month while also breaking its own sales records for a quarter and for the 1st 9 months of a year. Thanks to strong demand for new models such as the E class, 3rd-quarter operating earnings at Daimler's car business surged 26 percent to a record 2.7 billion euros ($2.98 billion).
Mercedes has stormed back because of an aggressive product offensive that includes lucrative models such as the S-class Cabriolet, the flagship's first convertible in over 40 years. By expanding into new niches and segments with other hot sellers such as the GLA compact crossover and saving $2.22 billion from cost cuts, Mercedes is on track to meet its 10 percent return on sales target.
When asked by Automotive News Europe to name key factors in Mercedes' turnaround, Zetsche said: "Probably the three most important elements, I think, are design, product portfolio and gaining a better understanding of China."
Although Mercedes still enjoyed a thriving business in Europe and the U.S., its costly missteps in China meant that it became a distant third in global premium car sales to BMW and Audi. In late 2012, Zetsche took action. First, he installed Hubertus Troska, a senior Daimler Trucks executive, as a new management board member responsible for China to create a reporting line that cut across all operations. He replaced the local sales chief and added hundreds of new sales points to close the gap with BMW and Audi.
Then Mercedes acquired majority control of its import distributor from Chinese partner Lei Shing Hong and merged it with a second, separate sales channel for locally built cars. "By bundling the two, we have one voice to our sales network and one strategy for the whole portfolio," said a senior Mercedes sales executive at the time.
Product offensive
As the sales network upgrade was taking place, Mercedes development chief Thomas Weber was following through on a massive product offensive. In 2010, Mercedes sold 24 models; come 2020, that number is expected to reach 40.
"If you looked at the product range, they basically didn't have any derivatives of anything, and now they have a precise sequence of new models that address a wide range of customer tastes," said a former non-executive director at the company. "The volume of products over the past two or three years has really been the key."
Major gaps in its portfolio were addressed. In 2014, the C class finally received a long-wheelbase version for chauffeur-driven customers in China. Dealers in the United Kingdom, Europe's second-largest market after Germany, were finally able to offer a compact crossover to customers in the GLC, whose predecessor had not been engineered for right-hand drive.
And while Zetsche scrapped poorly performing Maybach as a stand-alone brand in 2012, he resurrected it as the name for a line of ultraluxury S-class cars that have been immensely successful alongside two entirely new derivatives, including the cabrio version of Mercedes' most exclusive model line.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Zetsche revamped the automaker's compact line, adding the GLA crossover to challenge the BMW X1 and Audi Q3 in a segment that has experienced constant global growth for years.
The E class has enjoyed strong demand but will be challenged by BMW.
The improved and expanded vehicle portfolio has earned praise from analysts such as Barclays Capital's Kristina Church: "It's being helped by some awesome product right now. It's the best in the market and makes some of BMW's models look a little old."
A key player in the brand's transformation has been design chief Gorden Wagener, who made Mercedes cars desirable again. Since he was appointed in 2008 as head of design at the age of just 39, Wagener abandoned the engineering-inspired styling of individual models under predecessor Peter Pfeiffer in favor of a unifying philosophy for the whole brand and a fresher look that appealed to younger customers.
Most striking was the transformation of its core compact model, the A class, which lost its drab, functional minivan looks in favor of a sleek and sporty hatchback shape that embodies Wagener's so-called Sensual Purity design language that is meant to reconcile emotion with intelligence.
"I spend a lot of time in our design dome," Zetsche told Automotive News Europe. "I'm convinced that with Gorden Wagener, we have probably the most talented and capable head of design."
Possible risks
The big question is whether Mercedes can remain on top or, if it slips, whether it will still reach Zetsche's original target of being the biggest premium carmaker in 2020. The brand is at a product-cycle peak, having launched the S class, C class and most recently the E-class sedan this year in short succession. The next high-volume models won't come until its family of compacts is renewed starting in 2018.
Meanwhile, the competition has awoken. Audi late last year introduced its new A4 compact premium car, providing competition in this volume-heavy segment. Meanwhile, BMW is gearing up to launch the new 5 series, which has historically been a more serious competitor for the E class than the larger 7 series has ever been to the S class. BMW also hopes to copy the success of the S-class Maybach by launching its own version of a $165,000-plus car.
"What happens to Mercedes' margins when the product cycle has peaked and may not be quite so supportive? We will certainly get more of an indication after the arrival of the new 5 series, a hugely important car and key profit driver for BMW, than we had from the 7 series," said Church, who added that she remains skeptical about the sustainability of Mercedes' turnaround. "The jury is still out. I'm still slightly wary."
Moreover, Daimler still struggles with a sizable staff. The Mercedes-Benz Cars division, which includes Smart, had 137,000 workers at the end of last year. The entire BMW Group, which includes three car brands, a motorcycle business and a financial services division, employed 122,000 people.
A big difference between the companies is Mercedes' higher level of manufacturing depth. BMW, for example, sources all of its transmissions from suppliers such as ZF Friedrichshafen while Mercedes builds them in-house. Zetsche told analysts during the 2nd-quarter results conference call in July that he saw the prospect of electric vehicles, where Mercedes will be last to market with its EQ subbrand, as "an opportunity to further reduce vertical integration.
"Due to its large number of German employees, Daimler has been forced to inject $5.83 billion to top up its domestic pension fund since December 2014. Even after effectively pawning its 3.1 percent stakes in Renault and Nissan to the plan's asset pool to save cash, Daimler is still nearly $12.1 billion short. Lastly, Zetsche has realized the group's bloated organizational structure is not nimble enough to compete with tech startups and has asked nearly 150 Daimler managers to come up with proposals to address this weakness.
Labor peace
The team involved in Daimler's Leadership 2020 initiative is already putting some of the proposals into place. Here, Zetsche can rely on the full support of his once-combative German trade unions.
"We believe it will help minimize the hierarchical management culture," a Daimler labor official said. "Case in point: In the past, something like this would be decided by the senior executives and then cascaded down without ever asking for any input from the work force."
Daimler was early to car-sharing with Car2Go and is being rewarded.
Zetsche has also proved more flexible and pragmatic than BMW in terms of partnerships. He teamed up with Nissan to develop a joint front-wheel-drive platform for compact cars together with the Japanese carmaker's Infiniti premium brand. BMW has largely continued with its stand-alone strategy.
Daimler is also being rewarded for its openness to a new business idea long before competitors. First launched in 2009 in the provincial German city of Ulm, the company's Car2Go car-sharing scheme has expanded across the globe. In October, Car2Go announced it had crossed the 2-million-customer mark -- almost 4 times as many as BMW's car-sharing joint venture, DriveNow.
All of this success can be traced to that stormy evening in 2013. The S class, the 1st car with the ability to steer and accelerate itself through a traffic jam, was the game-changing vehicle that Mercedes -- and especially Zetsche -- needed.
VW might not be the only German car maker that has to deal with a full-fledged diesel emissions scandal. To start, Germany has ordered Daimler to recall Mercedes-Benz Vito diesel vans for allegedly cheating on emissions tests limiting nitrogen oxide output. The company has met with officialsand now has until June 15th to offer a solution. However, these may be just one part of a broader problem.
Bild am Sonntag has claimed that investigators are probing not only 40,000 Vito fans for signs of emissions cheating, but 80,000 of Mercedes' mainstay C-Class sedans. While there's no certainty the C-Class will be subject to a similar recall, this hints that officials are concerned about Daimler's overall emissions approach, not just one model. There were allegations Daimler was conspiring with BMW and VW on diesel emissions hardware, but this doesn't appear to be directly connected.
For its part, Daimler has denied that the Vito's emissions software was illegal, and said it would appeal the determination that prompted the recall.
Whatever happens, it's evident that diesels have fallen out of favor in Europe. On top of government crackdowns, there's the simple matter of demand. The VW scandal tanked diesel sales, and the rise of hybrids and EVs has led to some companies dropping diesel passenger vehiclesaltogether. Daimler would just be the latest to feel the full effect of that anti-diesel sentiment.
Mercedes-Benz is the latest luxury automaker to launch a subscription-based service to get customers who want to have access to a fleet of fancy cars but don’t necessarily want to own one. The German car company’s service is called Collection, and shockingly, it’s the cheapest one we’ve seen so far.
Mercedes is offering two plans: Signature for $1,095 a month and Reserve $1,595 a month. A one-time $495 joining fee is also required. Each plan includes insurance, roadside assistance, service, and maintenance as well as a “personal concierge” who will flip you from one vehicle to another. That makes Mercedes’ plan notably cheaper than comparable subscription services by BMW ($2,000–$3,700 / month), Porsche ($2,000–$3,000 / month), and Cadillac ($1,500 / month).
Signature customers will have their pick between C-Class, GLC, SLC, and AMG CLA vehicles, while Reserve members can access E-Class, GLE, AMG GLC, AMG SLC, and AMG C43 vehicles.
Back in April, the company’s US arm announced it would begin testing a subscription-based service in two cities: Nashville and Philadelphia. BMW is also piloting its subscription in Nashville, while Porsche’s is available in Atlanta, and Cadillac’s is available in New York City.
Mercedes Collection will undoubtedly appeal to customers who are drawn to a simplified payment structure and the flexibility to swap to a newer car sooner than a traditional lease or finance plan or a higher-quality vehicle than a daily rental from the airport.
Still, the $1,095-a-month plan is almost three times the cost of leasing a C 300 sedan in the Nashville area. (However, a lease requires a down payment of $4,169 and doesn’t include insurance and maintenance.)
Daimler on Wednesday announced that Dieter Zetsche will step down as CEO in 2019.
Zetsche would become chairman of the supervisory board in 2021, a step which needs to be approved by Daimler's shareholders.
He’ll step down as head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, effective at the end of the annual shareholders' meeting in 2019.
The succession plan includes naming Swede Ola Kaellenius as its next chief executive.
Kaellenius' appointment marks the first time that the Stuttgart-based automaker will be headed by a non-German CEO, according to Reuters.
Zetsche became a member of DaimlerChrysler's Board of Management in 1998 and served as the President/CEO of Chrysler Group where he was credited with a turnaround of American operations.
In June 2006, the Chrysler Group announced the Employee Pricing Plus program, which featured Dieter Zetsche as Dr. Z, the DaimlerChrysler spokesman for a series of United States and Canadian television commercials.
Daimler, the German car maker that owns Mercedes-Benz, will be run by a non-German for the first time next year.
Dieter Zetsche, 65, will be replaced by Ola Kaellenius, a 49-year-old Swede, as chief executive in a succession plan announced on Wednesday.
The moves come as Daimler and the German car industry grapple with the fallout from the diesel emissions cheating scandal.
It is also striving to adapt to the new era of electric and self-driving cars.
Mr Kaellenius, who often wears jeans and trainers and attends tech conferences, will be the first Daimler boss without a mechanical engineering background.
After studying finance and accounting at a Swiss university and international management at the Stockholm School of Economics, Mr Kaellenius joined Daimler in 1993.
He has introduced Silicon Valley management techniques at the carmaker, breaking down hierarchies and encouraging a more experimental approach to developing new products.
The Swede, who oversees Daimler's research and development division, has also worked in the company's British and American operations as well as the Stuttgart headquarters.
Daimler chairman Manfred Boschoff said Mr Kaellenius was a "recognised, internationally experienced and successful Daimler executive".
Mr Zetsche will step down as chief executive - a role he has held since 2006 - following the annual meeting in December 2019.
He will become chairman from 2021 after a mandatory two-year break, if his appointment is approved by shareholders.
Under Mr Zetsche's leadership Mercedes has launched a series of new models that helped the company overtake rivals BMW and Audi, a VW brand, to become the world's biggest luxury carmaker by sales in 2016.
Ingo Speich, a fund manager at Union Investment, said: "It is good that Daimler is providing clarity on the succession issue early on."
Shares in Daimler were down 1% at €54.19 in Frankfurt on Wednesday following the announcement, valuing the company at €60bn. However, the stock was just above €70 a year ago.
Last week it emerged that Daimler and rival German carmakers BMW and Volkswagen will face an EU inquiry for allegedly conspiring to restrict diesel emissions treatment systems.
The European Commission said it was investigating whether they agreed to limit the development of systems to reduce harmful emissions.
The announcement followed raids of the companies' offices last year.
First used in the 1950s for a race car turned into a road model, the Mercedes SLR has its roots in the W196 Formula 1 car used during the 1954 and 1955 seasons. The one-of-two Uhlenhaut Coupe you see here was the fastest road car when it was introduced by being able to hit an impressive 180 mph (290 kph). Mercedes brought back to life the Sport Leicht-Rennen (translated Sport Light-Racing) last decade when it teamed up with McLaren for a grand tourer developed in coupe and roadster forms, plus the ultra-rare Stirling Moss speedster.
Fast forward to March 1 this year, Daimler through a law firm from New York registered the “SLR” designation with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Is this a sign Mercedes has plans to revive the SLR? Maybe, maybe not. In many cases, automakers – or any other type of company for that matter – register trademarks simply to make sure these don’t end up in someone else’s property. It’s impossible to know at the moment whether this is what Mercedes is doing with the SLR, but we’re hoping the fabled name will indeed make a return on a car.
In recent times, Mercedes has been quite busy obtaining the rights to several nameplates. Relevant examples include the O-Class, GLS 600, GLS 680, and S680, not to mention the C53 and a plethora of EQ ones. Perhaps the most interesting trademark filing occurred back in September 2017 when the three-pointed star took the legal measures to obtain the S73, G73, and GLS73 names. The same document also pointed towards several “40” and “50” models, along with a few “53” vehicles.
It’s unclear whether any of these will be put to good use in the foreseeable future, although we’ve been hearing rumors of “73” models with an electrified twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 developing more than 800 horsepower. Still, there’s no way of knowing these trademarks will materialize one day. Fingers crossed some will become badges.
Mercedes-Benz will unveil the next-generation S-Class before the end of 2020. The lineup will again include a Maybach-badged flagship model, but the two-door variants are unlikely to return, according to a recent report.
German newspaper Handelsblatt learned the S-Class Coupe and the S-Class Cabriolet will soon fall victim to Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler's far-reaching cost-cutting plan. They're based on the sedan, so they're not built on a standalone architecture, but they're nonetheless expensive to develop and they sell in relatively tiny numbers. Mercedes doesn't break down S-Class sales by body style, but the sedan outsells both two-doors.
The publication added that other nameplates will disappear in the coming years. Autoblogalready reported production of the X-Class, a slow-selling pickup truck based on the Nissan Navara, will stop in May 2020. The third-generation CLS and AMG's four-door GT fastback will allegedly retire at the end of their respective lifecycle and be replaced by one electric model, and the B-Class people-mover not sold in the United States faces an uncertain future. It might morph into a crossover, though where it would fit in the company's growing range of high-riding models remains to be seen. We don't expect the transformation will come soon because the current, third-generation model made its debut in late 2018 and went on sale globally the following year.
Mercedes-Benz hasn't commented on the report, and it hasn't revealed what the future holds for any of the aforementioned models. We'll have a better idea about the two-door S-Class when the sedan makes its debut later in 2020. Even if the rumor isn't accurate, the current-generation Coupe and Cabriolet respectively unveiled in 2014 and 2015 will soon retire as they're reaching the end of their lifecycle.
If the AMG GT 4dr is going away, it's going to be a good idea to get one once the depreciation hits a bit more. Those will be worth more in the future for sure.
We be interesting to see what the single-model replacement is, and if it's fully electric, or some form of hybrid.
The third-generation CLS and AMG's four-door GT fastback will allegedly retire at the end of their respective lifecycle and be replaced by one electric model
The new era of electrified vehicles presents a major challenge for companies in the automotive industry. The investments required to remain competitive in these changing days are enormous and there are, generally speaking, two ways to deal with the situation - automakers have to either consolidate and realize large synergies or cut costs by reducing lineups and engine ranges. Mercedes-Benz will apparently take the second path by dramatically cutting cars, engines, and platforms.
“We are reviewing our product portfolio, especially as we announced so many pure EVs,” Markus Schafer, Mercedes R&D boss, commented to Autocar. “Knowing the complexity after the growth in the last couple of years means we are definitely reviewing our current lineup. The idea is to streamline - taking car variants out, but also platforms, powertrains, and components.”
Schafer couldn’t specify which models will be discontinued but he named the G-Class, SL, AMG GT, and S-Class as vehicles riding on their own platforms. “In the future, we will have the same underpinnings with various cars and you will see the results pretty soon,” he said, suggesting some of the brand’s most expensive and exotic models could get the axe.
While the R&D boss didn’t provide exact details about the future of the V8 and V12 engines, he explained it all depends on what the Euro 7 emission standards require. “The plan is not to kick out the V8 and V12,” Schafer added but “four-cylinder engines will make more sense than a V12.” A report from November last year indicated Mercedes will not retire the V12 engine yet. The good news was shared by Daimler’s chairman Ola Källenius, who didn’t go into details. Most likely, the 12-cylinder unit will be discontinued from the AMG-branded models but nothing has been confirmed officially at this point.
I have a feeling that in future most of the AMG models as well as BMW -M range would likely head to extinction. With electric vehicles offering all the performance of AMG / M at the cost of a regular Mercedes or BMW, who would want an AMG.
I have a feeling that in future most of the AMG models as well as BMW -M range would likely head to extinction. With electric vehicles offering all the performance of AMG / M at the cost of a regular Mercedes or BMW, who would want an AMG.
It will just be a different thing but they will still sell them. Huge profit margins, I believe, on those models.
I have a feeling that in future most of the AMG models as well as BMW -M range would likely head to extinction. With electric vehicles offering all the performance of AMG / M at the cost of a regular Mercedes or BMW, who would want an AMG.
Because 0-60 isn't everything? I want my AMG/M to scream when i WOT.... instead of hearing............................nothing.
I hear ya’ll. .
Yeah, they’ll still sell them but that fat profit margin will shrink since a sizable chunk of buyers will go electric for the same performance with less money. And almost all automakers have EVs in the pipeline.
Looks like it’s almost assured that BEV is here to stay now.
Now l’d like to see what happens to the dealership model. With a flurry of new automakers opting for direct to customer sales the days of dealerships seem numbered. Any thoughts....?
Mercedes-Benz is suspending its two-year-old subscription service after mediocre sales, Automotive News reports.
Mercedes-Benz USA head of sales Adam Chamberlain described the service as a learning experience that would have been expanded if sales were better. “If the demand would have been unbelievable, then it could have gone further,” Chamberlain told Automotive News last week. “But demand was just OK, so we kept it.”
Mercedes-Benz first rolled out its Collection subscription service in Atlanta in 2018 with the goal of appealing to customers who want to have access to a fleet of fancy cars but don’t necessarily want to own one. The program offered subscribers access to 30 models for a monthly fee, which included insurance, 24/7 roadside assistance, and vehicle maintenance.
But Collection never expanded beyond the initial pilot cities of Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Nashville. The service drew a few hundred customers, and Mercedes executives had expected it to turn a profit in the first 12 to 18 months, Auto News reports. The pilot program will end July 31st, a spokesperson said.
“From the beginning, Mercedes-Benz Collection was designed to be a pilot program; an experiment for us to learn about the luxury automotive subscription marketplace and its customers,” Mercedes said in a statement. “After two years in operation, the pilot program has run its course and it is now time to sunset the MB Collection. The information and experience we’ve gained through the pilot about our customers and the subscription business model have been invaluable and may be applied for future initiatives.”
Mercedes’ Collection consisted of three tiers: Signature for $1,095 a month, Reserve for $1,595 a month, and Premiere for $2,995 a month. A one-time $495 joining fee is also required. As of February 2020, Mercedes was still trying to juice sales by adding a new tier consisting of the automaker’s high-performance AMG models.
But Mercedes isn’t walking away empty-handed. Chamberlain told Auto News that the automaker was able to collect “a mountain of data” on its subscribers, many of whom were, on average, 10 years younger than the automaker’s typical customers. This will help the car company’s better target millennial-aged car buyers in the future, he said.
Subscriptions have been a mixed bag for the auto industry. Ford walked away from its service last fall following low demand. Cadillac shut down its service Book in 2018, only to resurrect it several months later with fewer options.
Other automakers have had some success. BMW, Porsche, Audi, Volvo, Nissan, and Jaguar are still offering some variation of a subscription service. Even the big car rental companies, Hertz and Enterprise, are getting in on the action. Most of these subscriptions are only available in specific cities and are still in the pilot phase.
Mercedes-Benz has expanded its Designo Manufaktur program to give customers more customization options when they design their ideal Mercedes.
As part of the expanded program, customers can spec out their vehicles in any color from the Mercedes-Benz history books, regardless of whether that color was recently retired or if it was used on classic models from the 1950s or 1960s.
The Mercedes-AMG S 63 Cabriolet and E 63 S Wagon you see here are finished in Designo Manufaktur Deep Green and Design Manufaktur Steel Blue respectively. This shade of green comes from the company’s heritage portfolio, while the blue was once reserved for the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter but actually suits the E 63 to a tee.
Just in case customers can’t find their perfect color from the Mercedes-Benz palette, they can also request to have a paint color used by another car manufacturer.
The German automaker has also expanded the program into the cabins of its vehicles. For example, customers can option retired Mercedes-Benz Designo leather colors, headliners, and contrast stitching. This S 63 Cabriolet is bathed in lovely Light Brown Exclusive Nappa leather and Maybach models can have virtually every interior surface finished in leather. Meanwhile, the E 63 S Wagon featured has AMG Black Exclusive Nappa leather with white contrast stitching to suit its understated exterior looks.
Mercedes-Benz has also expanded the portfolio of customization options for the G-Class through the Designo G Manufaktur program, with the SUV now available with 34 exterior colors and 54 interior upholsteries.
Daimler said on Thursday it will stop building Mercedes-Benz sedans in the United States and Mexico as part of cost-cutting measures to streamline production, after saying it will post a smaller-than-expected operating loss in the second quarter.
The company said it will post an operating loss of 1.68 billion euros ($1.91 billion) in the second quarter, pre-releasing earnings ahead of July 23.
"Daimler pre-released better than consensus second-quarter numbers," Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois said in a note late on Thursday.
A slump in demand forced by dealership closures and lockdowns due to the coronavirus crisis pushed Daimler to report an adjusted second-quarter loss before interest and taxes (EBIT) of 708 million euros during the same period.
At its Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans unit it posted an operating loss of 1.13 billion euros, and an adjusted operating loss of 284 million euros.
Daimler said it had spent 129 million euros on restructuring efforts during the second quarter, a figure that includes staff buyouts at Mercedes. It also announced a 105 million-euros valuation adjustment on YOUR NOW, its car-sharing joint venture.
Daimler further said it had incurred 687 million euros in restructuring costs to retool its global production network of factories producing Mercedes-Benz passenger cars.
It will stop building a variant of the compact A-Class at its factory in Aguascalientes, Mexico, to concentrate on a newer, higher-margin sport utility vehicle model, the GLB.
Furthermore, Mercedes-Benz will stop making the C-Class sedan in Tuscaloosa, leaving the plant in Alabama making only SUVs, the carmaker said.
Daimler had already announced it was preparing its factory in Hambach, France, for a sale.
"Our systematic efforts to lower the breakeven of the company by reducing costs and adjusting capacity will need to continue,” Chief Executive Officer Ola Kaellenius said.
Mercedes-Benz will shift its model proliferation into reverse in the coming years, according to dealers familiar with the company's plans. At least seven nameplates are scheduled to retire without a direct successor.
Speaking to industry trade journal Automotive News, dealers affirmed they learned these details directly from Nicholas Speeks, the CEO of Mercedes-Benz's American division, during a webinar. He didn't reveal which models will exit the portfolio or when they're scheduled to leave, but an anonymous source singled out the two-door variants of the C-Class, the E-Class, and the S-Class as well as the CLS and one member of the GT lineup.
"Do we need all of the products that we currently have? We also have to play our part in cutting our costs to meet our means," Speeks reportedly told attendees. His comments suggest the move is part of parent company Daimler's far-reaching plan to cut its annual costs in order to invest more money into electrification and autonomy.
The report adds credibility to earlier rumors claiming the next-generation S-Class won't be available as a coupe or as a convertible. Axing the two-door versions of the C and the E makes sense from a business standpoint, none of them generate significant volume. As for the GT, unverified rumor claims it's the four-door model that's getting the boot. Mercedes-Benz will replace it and the CLS with a single electric model due out later in the 2020s.
Although enthusiasts will undoubtedly dust off their digital pitchforks, dealers are welcoming the news like a well-stocked Christmas basket. Mercedes-Benz sells eight crossovers and SUVs, seven sedans (including the Maybach-branded variants of the S-Class), one wagon, four coupes, and six convertibles. Nearly all of these models are available in several flavors, meaning there are over 100 basic variants to choose from. One dealer drew an unflattering parallel between the company's range and the menu at a Cheesecake Factory restaurant.
"Reducing model proliferation is good. We've been asking for that. Whether or not seven models is enough, time will tell," summed up Jeff Aiosa, the owner of Mercedes-Benz of New London in Connecticut.
Mercedes-Benz hasn't commented on the report, and it hasn't publicly announced plans to pare down its range of models. Daimler is in the middle of a major transformation, though. It's hoping to save several billion dollars by cutting more than 20,000 jobs globally. It announced it will stop making sedans in the United States and Mexico, and it's selling the Hambach, France, factory that manufactures the Smart ForTwo; future models will be built in China. In an unexpected plot twist, England-based Ineos may purchase the facility to build its Grenadier SUV.
I posted before, that I didn't see a market where the AMG GT & CLS share a space, too similar.
A bit surprised at dropping the Coupes & Cabrios across the line. I'd think the E Coupe/Cab would stick around at minimum.
the move is part of parent company Daimler's far-reaching plan to cut its annual costs in order to invest more money into electrification and autonomy.
We already know that Mercedes-Benz is one of the big legacy automakers with a comprehensive strategy for achieving leadership in the electrification field. The company already has many mild-hybrids and plug-in hybrids out and about, along with the EQC and EQV all-electric vehicles. This autumn, the company also announced some of the new models in the expanding EQ lineup. 20 photos
We just saw Lewis Hamilton getting involved with the final development phase of the Mercedes-AMG Project One PHEV hypercar, so we know the electrified flagship is just about ready to (finally) hit the streets sometime next year. But how about all those EQ models Mercedes-Benz teased early October?
According to the latest information available from the automaker – which is targeting an all-electric Mercedes-EQ portfolio of eight models for 2022 – they are all being assigned to the company’s global production network.
“With its ‘Electric First’ strategy, Mercedes-Benz is consistently on the path to CO‚ neutrality and is investing heavily in transformation. Our vehicle portfolio becomes electric and thus also our global production network with vehicle and battery factories. We intend to lead in the field of e-mobility and focus in particular on battery technology,” explains Markus Schäfer, the COO of Mercedes-Benz Cars.
A true EV flagship, the luxury sedan EQS, which has been attached to Factory 56 (the Sindelfingen plant in Germany), will enter series-production during the first half of next year.
The next all-electric model from the brand, the EQA compact crossover, will have two homes - the Mercedes-Benz Rastatt factory in Germany and the Beijing plant in China. By the way, the EQA is already in production in Rastatt and will also be the first to be revealed – on January 20, 2021.
A decision has also been made on the production location for the EQB fully electric compact SUV, which should be integrated on the lines of the Kecskemét (Hungary) and Beijing plants sometime next year. The final EV model scheduled for 2021 is the EQE executive sedan, which has been assigned to Bremen and Beijing.
Tuscaloosa, the classic home for large SUVs from the German brand, will become the exclusive provider of the sport utility versions of the EQS and EQE starting in 2022. As far as batteries are concerned, the plant near Vance, Alabama is also tasked with on-site production of the packs for the EQS and EQE.
Meanwhile, batteries for other models in the EQ lineup will be assembled in Untertürkheim/Hedelfingen and Kamenz (Germany), Jawor (Poland), or Beijing (China).
Daimler plans to split up into the world’s largest makers of luxury cars and commercial vehicles, renaming itself Mercedes-Benz and separately listing its truck unit by year end.
The plan to distribute a majority of Daimler Truck to shareholders is the most significant shakeup CEO Ola Kallenius has made since taking over the top job at the German giant almost two years ago.
The spinoff will appease investors who long advocated for the move, citing a stubbornly low valuation for the group company. While Daimler recently tweaked its corporate structure to give more independence to its main divisions, it was viewed as a half measure and did little to boost sentiment.
A final decision on the separation will be taken at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting that could be held at the end of the third quarter and the business could be listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange by the end of 2021, Daimler said.
The move represents the start of a "profound reshaping of the company," Kallenius said in a statement Wednesday. "Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans and Daimler Trucks & Buses are different businesses with specific customer groups, technology paths and capital needs," he said.
"Given this context, we believe they will be able to operate most effectively as independent entities, equipped with strong net liquidity and free from the constraints of a conglomerate structure," Kallenius said.
Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Arndt Ellinghorst said: "The outcome is extremely positive for all shareholders and we’re convinced that this is also in the best interest of all employees at Daimler. It’s also a strong positive statement for the German corporate landscape and financial market."
Volvo issued a bullish outlook for the global truck market earlier Wednesday within its report of better-than-expected quarterly earnings. Transport and construction activity has fully recovered in most markets and improved customer confidence, according to the company. It raised its forecast for heavy-duty vehicle sales in Europe and North America this year by a combined 90,000 units.
The results raise the bar for Daimler Trucks, which has long trailed its Swedish rival in terms of profitability. Volvo’s operating margin of almost 13 percent is “the highest the company has ever reached in recent memory,” RBC analyst Tom Narayan said in a note.
Daimler officials previously balked at selling individual divisions in the past but had kept the door open to a partial listing of the trucks unit. German rival Volkswagen Group pushed through an IPO of its truck operation Traton in 2019, and the business now has a market value of almost 12 billion euros ($14.4 billion). Traton agreed last year to acquire Navistar International Corp. to challenge Daimler and Volvo in North America, the industry’s biggest source of profits.
Daimler’s truck division contributed 40.2 billion euros of revenue ($48.3 billion) in 2019, according to the company’s annual report. It sold 488,521 vehicles worldwide and generated 2.46 billion euros in earnings before interest and taxes that year. While the North American Freightliner brand posts robust profits, the European operations have gone through multiple rounds of restructuring.
Mercedes-Benz at one point sold six distinct convertible models, but the automaker is drastically reducing the number of droptops in its lineup. The S-class convertible and SLC-class are already gone, and now new spy photos and a renewed U.S. trademark for the name "CLE" suggest that a single model will replace the two-door versions of the C-class and E-class.
Set to be sold as both a two-door coupe and a convertible, the CLE-class appears to be the spiritual successor to the previous CLK-class, which similarly bridged a gap between the C-class and E-class sedans. It will likely be mechanically similar to the new W206 C-class sedan, which will come standard with a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four in the U.S. We could see a CLE300 model as the base version, with a possible CLE450 using the turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six found in the E-class.
In these spy photos, we can see that the CLE-class convertible is a bit more swoopy and stylish than the C-class four-door, with wider proportions and a more shapely rear end. It has a cloth softtop rather than a heavy and complex retractable hardtop. Its closest competitors will be the BMW 4-series and Audi A5 convertibles, both of which also have softtops.
We expect the outgoing C-class coupe and convertible models to be discontinued for 2022, while the E-class two-doors may stick around for a little longer until the CLE-class is revealed. Its starting price will likely be somewhere around $60,000.
There has been a lot of movement within the business structure and strategy of Mercedes-Benz in the past year. Most of these movements are part of Daimler CEO Ola Kallenius' strategy to focus on high-margin sales.
Now, Daimler, Mercedes' parent company, is reportedly on the verge to make another move, and it's happening this year. According to the German newspaper Automobilwoche, as reported by Automotive News, the automaker is planning to unveil a new business group consisting of AMG, Maybach, and G-Class. More importantly, the announcement will be made in September at the Munich Auto Show.
A Daimler spokesperson told Automobilwoche that the move will streamline marketing costs within the company and will strengthen the three subbrands, which is considered an important pillar in its new strategy. For the uninitiated, AMG is the performance division of Mercedes, while Maybach focuses on luxury to rival brands like Rolls-Royce and Bentley. The G-Class, on the other hand, is the line of luxury off-road vehicles from the Three-Pointed Star.
"We will not only maintain the independence, strong identities, and evolved corporate cultures of the individual brands, but also further expand and sharpen them," the unnamed Daimler spokesperson added.
The spokesperson also said that the company is currently in the process of designing the new business group, as well as evaluating the potential in various areas. As for the leadership, it is expected that AMG boss Philipp Schiemer will take charge, but that's not confirmed at this point.
What we have yet to know, which we expect to hear about in a few months, is the formal corporate structure of the new business group. There are also no current plans for the new group to spin off after establishment, according to Automobilwoche's sources.
Looks like Mercedes is beginning to consolidate its business operations to minimal models, strong identity, electrification. Sounds familiar, .....right....
11-11-2014, 12:42 PM
Mercedes-Benz Museum Starts Selling Off Some Classics
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