Recent Comments:
Modern Retro: BMW M1 Hommage officially revealed {Autoblog}
Apr 27th 2008 1:10PM damn you, now that you've said it, I can't stop seeing it as well
Rumormill: Daimler looking to buy big stake in Aston Martin {Autoblog}
Apr 5th 2008 3:39AM First of all, did you guys even read that Autocar article? The Kuwait investors won't get a 7% stake in Daimler, they already own 7% of Daimler.
I've read somewhere else some time ago, that Daimler is indeed interested in buying a stake in Aston at some point, but not immediately, since nobody is willing to sell.
Maybe later, Daimler will acquire the stake Ford still holds. In the meantime, talks supposedly concentrate on engine and platform sharing.
Anyway, that's a match-up that would make sense. The Mercedes parts bin is a lot better than that of Ford (for a luxury marque as Aston).
Geneva 2008: Volkswagen Golf TDI Hybrid Concept {Autoblog}
Mar 4th 2008 9:58AM Nah, it's more like 70 mpg
REPORT: Ford secretly planning summer sale of Volvo {Autoblog}
Jan 18th 2008 6:15PM Well, there was this rumor some time ago that BMW is interested in buying Volvo. Maybe this is it?
Porsche tells VW: We won't eat you until after the holidays, Merry Christmas {Autoblog}
Nov 28th 2007 1:20PM I think that the $8.6 Billion pretax profit is actually the bigger news. That is incredible for a car manufacturer that small.
Mercedes revises the Star, adds "acoustic logo" {Autoblog}
Oct 31st 2007 3:51AM A little history on the star:
It actually goes back to a postcard that Daimler wrote to his wife when he was still working for Deutz in Cologne in 1872. On that postcard, he marked the house he lived in with a star (it wasn't three pointed yet though). On the back he wrote that this star shall shine upon his (yet to be) business. I guess that's where the "internal motto" comes from (never heard of it though)
After the Mercedes brand was introduced in 1902, the company was looking for a logo and Daimler's sons remembered that their father (who died in 1900) once used the star as a symbol. The company took their advice and patented the three pointed star (as well as a four pointed star that was never used though).
The three points supposedly also go back to Daimler sen., whose goal was to build engines for transportation on land, air and water. It was definitely no military connotation though as in those times, transportation on water meant small recreational motorboats, in the air it was balloons and on land there was still nobody dreaming of anything tanklike.
You can see that from this 1900 advertisment:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2e/DMG-Werbung-1890.jpg/250px-DMG-Werbung-1890.jpg
And here's the evolution of the star:
http://www.mercedes-benz.de/content/media_library/hq/hq_mpc_reference_site/passenger_cars/passenger_cars_world/heritage/history/brand_and_company/star/history_brandcompany0.object-Single-MEDIA.tmp/OriginOfTheStar_380x240.jpg
Mercedes' AMG tuning house coming with factory tour {Autoblog}
Sep 22nd 2007 2:59PM Only problem is, that much torque would rip any manual gear box into pieces.
Readers choose best of 2007 for Auto Motor und Sport {Autoblog}
Feb 1st 2007 11:59AM The stats are for Dec 06 as well as the whole year of 2006. I picked the numbers for the whole year as benchmark.
As for next year, I don't expect many changes. I think the new C-Class will have the biggest impact. It might just take the mid-range category even though it won't be available for the whole 12 months.
Also, I think the E-Class might take back the upper-mid-range.
Other than that I don't see any changes.
Readers choose best of 2007 for Auto Motor und Sport {Autoblog}
Feb 1st 2007 9:16AM #1 This ranking pretty much reflects sales in Germany.
If anyone is interested, here is a very detailed pdf-file:
http://www.kba.de/Abt3_neu/KraftfahrzeugStatistiken/Reihen/Reihe1_2006_12.pdf
I'll just post top sales and compare them to the winners:
Minicars: VW Fox (The Mini is listed under small cars but it would be #3 here)
Small cars: VW Polo
Lower mid-class: VW Golf (Audi A3 is #3)
Mid-range: VW Passat (BMW 3-Series is #2)
Upper mid-range: Audi A6
Luxury: Mercedes S-Class
SUV: BMW X3 (Audi Q7 is #1 full size SUV, #6 overall)
Convertables: Mercedes SLK (The SL truly is more of a dream car since it's #20 in sales)
Vans: VW Multivan (The Germans are quite strange when it comes to classifying vans. In the list VW Touran was #1, followed by the MB B-Class but the Multivan was the #1 real van [listed under "Utilities" not "Vans"])
There's no category for sports cars as they are listed under luxury, but of those sports cars listed there, the Porsche 911 is #1.
AUCTION ACTION: The most expensive car ever? Hitler's Auto Union on the auction block {Autoblog}
Dec 3rd 2006 4:02PM About the Nazi funding:
As far as I know, the Nazi regime gave Auto Union and Mercedes some funding, but their racing budget was still at least 5 times higher than what the government gave them.
If it wasn't for great engineers like Porsche or Uhlenhaut these masterpieces would have never existed. It was their vision that created those revolutionary cars (just look at their 1930's competition to see how revolutionary they were), not Hutlers funding.
