AC Dealers

This year’s DTM race series will have nine drivers showing off what a Mercedes-Benz can do on the track. Here are four of the nine drivers and a little bit of information about each one so you you’ll know who to root for this year.

Bernd Schneider: With more than 220 DTM races under his belt, Bernd has nearly 70 more racing experiences than his eight teammates. He’s won 42 races including 24 pole positions and 58 fastest laps. He’ll continue to be the leader in 2008 because no other driver in the competition can match his stats. Bernd also clinched five championships between 1995 and 2006.

Jamie Green: At the young age of 25, this driver has already enjoyed repeated success on the tracks. He’s been with Mercedes-Benz for 11 years and placed 2nd in the “Champions of the Future” series.

Paul di Resta: While debuting in the DTM series in April 2007, Paul placed 5th in Hockenheim as well as the overall championship series. He also won the Indianapolis 500 in 2007, the 2007 US Indy Racing League and several other races during the year. In 2004, he earned the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award.

Ralf Schumacher: This ambitious driver completed 180 Grand Prix races between 1997 and 2007. He won six of those races and achieved eight fastest race laps during those competitions. Although he hasn’t competed in a DTM race, he likes driving the Mercedes C-Class race car and expects to be just as successful in this competition as he has been throughout the rest of his racing career.

If you want to experience a similar thrill, you can stop by your local Mercedes-Benz dealer and get one of the street models. You’ll definitely experience the best at your fingertips as you speed down the highway.

Can you imagine winning a brand new and luxurious Mercedes-Benz in a raffle? That’s exactly what happened earlier this month with the Bahamas Football Association (BFA).

The BFA, with the help of the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA), has become one of the best organized sports teams in its entire region. As a result of the organization’s recent accomplishments, the BFA has offered a grand raffle project open to the general public. BFA encourages sports associates and everybody living in the region to support the local soccer program by participating in the raffle.

The prize is a 2008 Mercedes-Benz (no word as to what model, but I’m guessing a C-Class). The drawing will occur later this month during a match between the Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands.

With the money the BFA raises from the raffle, the players hope to strengthen the soccer program and even improve the level of the team’s skills.

But contributing to a charity is nothing new for Mercedes-Benz. There are always stories in which the company provides a vehicle as a prize in a raffle or donates one for another charitable purpose.  Just last month, the automaker auctioned off one of its retired racing vehicles. The proceeds benefitted a social sports project for young people, the “Sport for Good” foundation. And if you do a minimal amount of research, you can find dozens of stories just like this one.

If you’d like to see what your local Mercedes-Benz dealer is doing for charities in your area, all it takes is a simple visit to the nearest facility. You can even help by contributing some of your own money to a good cause.

Mercedes-Benz is always up for a party. And people are going to get a huge dose of the German automaker this week at the Formula One Circus in Melbourne, Australia.

This corporate extravaganza begins this week and offers many opportunities to enjoy elegance and the more refined things in life.

The biggest and most exclusive event of the week happens atop the Eureka Tower. This is where Mercedes-Benz entertains its most important guests. During the three nights of the Melbourne Grand Prix event, the entire 89th floor will get a new name, the Mercedes-Benz Star Lounge.  It features a Maybach Bar and astonishing views overlooking Port Phillip Bay and the Albert Park Track. In the lounge, guests can relax in luxury with the comfortable chaise longues and other soothing arrangements.

But that’s not even the best part. Melbourne is putting one of its best chefs to work to make entrees and delicious dishes for the VIP guests in attendance. Chef Raymond Capaldi is planning fresh oysters, Australian King prawns and scallops. In addition, he is also planning to showcase an ice sculpture of the unmistakable Mercedes-Benz star.

Some of the stars rumored to appear at the event include the entire KISS rock band, Ozzie Osbourne and many other recognizable names in today’s culture.

Sounds like a lot of fun, but it looks like we’ll have to settle for reading articles about it and imagining what it’s like hobnobbing with the rich and famous.

Did you know that Mercedes-Benz suffered some minor losses a few years ago? I know I couldn’t believe it. I always thought Mercedes was the status symbol of choice and, as a result, the leader in luxury vehicle sales. But three years ago, the company with the iconic star reported its first losses in nearly 20 years. Some say the problem was the quality of the vehicles. In fact, the newspapers at the time were full of stories about Mercedes-Benz vehicles’ breaking down.

But that has changed. The Mercedes-Benz automakers, under the tutelage of Dieter Zetsche, reversed the problems they were having a few years ago.

The company has gone from producing the worst-quality luxury vehicles three years ago to being the envy of other upscale automakers today. Last year, Mercedes-Benz had a return on sales that almost doubled that of its nearest and fiercest competitor, BMW.

Officials credit Mr. Zetsche with the company’s turnaround. He brought his operational experience to the automaker when Mercedes hired him to head its company.  He expanded his role a few months later and also became the head of Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz. He felt he could be a “better Daimler CEO by knowing in-depth about Mercedes’ business.” He was able to stop some of the corporate in-fighting to help the employees focus on the quality of the vehicles that they produce.

In addition, he cut jobs nearly in half from 14,500 to 8,500 in the production phase. This meant Mercedes employees no longer had “jobs for life” and they had to work harder to maintain their employment.

As a result of his ideas and actions, Mercedes and Daimler are back on top of their games. Today, when you visit your local Mercedes-Benz dealer, you can expect to find the utmost in quality, style and comfort. Visit one today and see for yourself.

Whenever my wife and I hear a crazy story set in Michigan, we look at each other and almost simultaneously say, “Only in Michigan.” That’s because I lived there until the time I was 30 and she lived there with me for about eight years as well. A few weeks ago, there was a story in Detroit about a man who beat up a little kid inside a convenience store. As the kid stood in front of the cooler door, the guy opened it quickly and banged the kid in the head with it. That was an “only in Michigan” story. And so is the following one.

At the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, a man dropped his Mercedes-Benz off with the valet service. Before getting out of the car, he reset the trip meter to zero. But when he came back three days later to pick up his luxury car, the odometer had 80 on the dial.

“How could this be?” he asked himself. There’s only one way that this could happen, and that’s if the valet decided to take the vehicle for a joyride while the owner was gone.

But a spokesperson for the valet service’s parent company said there’s “no way these cars can be driven 80 miles. They’re driven two miles to the airport and two miles to the parking facility. That’s it.”

I suppose it’s more logical to think that the man, who has nothing to gain from lying, simply made up the story. Of course, if the valet had any smarts at all, he would’ve hit the trip meter upon returning from his joyride to avoid any such problem. That’s what I would’ve done.

The talk of battery power in the auto industry seems to revolve around the lithium-ion batteries. But those have had some problems, including the fact that they’ve been used mainly in consumer electronics. But Daimler is looking to change those perceptions.

According to Dr. Thomas Weber, a member of the Daimler AG Board of Management, the company is embarking on “groundbreaking key technology that is going to be a decisive factor for the future success of the automotive industry.” The automaker has been working on the new battery technology for more than 15 years.

The latest breakthrough involves the company’s ability to integrate the lithium-ion battery into the vehicle’s climate-control system. This makes the battery less vulnerable to the cold weather outside. In the past, one major concern for these batteries was that they did not perform well in cold weather. But the new breakthrough ensures optimum performance even when the outdoor temperatures dip as low as 15 degrees Celsius.

But that isn’t the only thing Daimler AG has improved about the lithium-ion battery. The engineers at the company have also made the battery more compact. You’ve probably heard the old joke that battery-powered cars are great, but you need an entire trunkful of huge batteries to make them work. With more compact batteries, that joke is part of the past. The company has also improved the battery to give it more reliability, higher ampere-per-hour efficiency and a longer service life.

Daimler isn’t stopping there, though. The automaker continues to conduct research on this technology to make it even better. Who knows? You might stop in at your local Mercedes-Benz dealer in a few years and find a model that runs exclusively on the lithium-ion battery and is just as reliable as today’s hybrid or fuel-powered vehicle.

A few years ago, the Mercedes-Benz company created an automotive design concept that it dubbed the “Mercedes-Benz bionic concept car.” Its body was odd, and it looked almost like a boxfish, fins and all. The vehicle hasn’t made too many appearances since then, but it reemerged last week in a museum in New York.

You can see the new “Design and the Elastic Mind” exhibit at the New York Museum of Modern Art. The Mercedes concept car is part of the display because of its unusual shape and design, which break away from the more traditional form familiar to consumers. 

But it not only looks different–i is different. If you’ve ever seen a tropical boxfish, you’ve probably noticed its hexagonal bone plates. This shape helps the sea dweller survive attacks and collisions with other fish and underwater obstacles, such as corals. But the shape also makes the fish more aerodynamic so it can swim through the water with ease.

Mercedes-Benz went to great lengths to replicate the features of this popular fish. The company even hired biologists to work on the development team for the concept car. The result was a “bionic” car that introduced many technological advancements still used today, including the BLUETEC engines and others. The concept car was safer than others because it used a honeycomb-like structure in the doors that made them 40 percent stiffer than any other doors on the market.

You won’t see the bionic car at your local Mercedes-Benz dealer any time soon. You can, however, visit the New York Museum of Modern Art and see the exhibit between now and May 12.

Everybody knows that Mercedes-Benz is the standard for luxury and comfort in the auto market. But did you know that there are many other uses for a Benz?

This article tells about 24 Cuban immigrants who built a boat from parts of a Mercedes-Benz and used it to float across the Atlantic Ocean to Florida. The two dozen illegal immigrants arrived in the United States the night before a historic event in their home country. The morning after landing in Florida, Fidel Castro resigned his post as dictator.

A wedding photographer, Ray Jensen, was on assignment near the coast when he noticed the makeshift boat being pulled ashore. He took some snapshots of the Mercedes craft, which washed ashore near the Key West International Airport.

Many Cubans attempt to float across to the United States because of the nation’s “wet foot/dry foot” policy. That means that immigrants from Cuba are allowed to stay in the country if they reach land. However, if the Coast Guard catches them while they are still floating in the waters on the way to the United States, they are returned to Cuba without any repercussions.

You probably won’t find a boat made out of car parts if you visit your Mercedes-Benz dealer, but you’ll definitely find a luxury vehicle that meets your needs. Stop in today and get the car of your dreams just in time for spring!

Yesterday we talked about the double-pivot steering innovations that Carl Benz brought to the automotive world. But that wasn’t even close to the end of his contributions to the industry.

Between 1893 and 1900, Benz created and patented the first four-wheeler. He used his groundbreaking steering technology when he offered this vehicle, the Victoria, to the public.   There were different versions of the Victoria and each version had different horsepower outputs, ranging from three to six.

Though he added many more vehicles to the industry, the Victoria remained Carl Benz’s favorite car.

Legend states that Carl Benz chose the name “Victoria” for this vehicle as a way to celebrate his “victory” over the industry’s long-time steering problem.

Another historical triumph for the Victoria was that it was the first vehicle model to take a long-distance trip. In 1894, Baron Theodor von Liebieg took production model number 76 from Reichenberg to Gondorf and a few places in between. Altogether, the vehicle traveled more than 2,500 kilometers in just a few months. And at a top speed of only 20 kilometers per hour, that’s no small feat! For every 100 kilometers, the four-horsepower vehicle used about 21 liters of fuel, and it neededd about 150 liters of water in the cooling system for every 100 kilometers as well.

Today, you can visit the National Czech Museum in Prague to see the very vehicle that made this historic road trip. But you can also find the latest and most modern models full of luxury and convenience at your local Mercedes-Benz dealer.

The year 1886 was a great one for vehicle inventions. Two particular inventions may have revolutionized the car industry, at least for the Benz Corporation. That was the year that the Benz Patent Motor Car hit the road. It was one of the first modern vehicles designed from scratch.

But there was another invention that year, too. That was the Stuttgart Daimler Motorized Carriage. The name might not suggest a modern-type vehicle, but it was in fact a motorized carriage. 

These two important products were missing one vital component to make them even better: a steering system. They had a way of steering, but it wasn’t very efficient.

Enter Carl Benz.

Carl Benz’s double-pivot steering system was almost more of an accident than an innovation. He got the idea while leafing through an 1891 trade journal. Soon after, he created the double-pivot steering system that solved the automotive industry’s steering problems.

His new innovation used a steering crank instead of a shaft to turn the front axle of the vehicles. He used this in his Patent Motor Car and made several improvements over the years to perfect it. He wanted the steering to be light yet reliable.

On February 28, 1893, Carl Benz filed an application for a patent for his “vehicle steering device with steering circles to be tangentially positioned in relation to the wheels.” The patent number was DRP 73515, and  the device became significant worldwide almost immediately. It also opened up a flood of new designs and innovations to convert already-existing vehicles.

Because of people like Carl Benz, you can find a wide variety of innovations and new technologies in the luxury vehicles at any local Mercedes-Benz dealer. Visit one today!