You are currently viewing eMercedesBenz' past articles published in September, 2005.  Our latest stories can be found here.

A couple days ago we brought you a story about the B-Class being released in Australia. As if that weren't enough to get all you mini-Mercedes fans excited, today Canada.com has published a review of everybody's favorite hatchback. We won't bore you with the list of features again (you can read our original B-Class story here), but needless to say the car performed remarkably well in the testing.  It's interesting to note that for a small vehicle, the reviewer made several references to the amount of interior space it contained, even going as far as to say it rivaled that of the S-Class.  While I'm sure the reviewer was exaggerating, it's still interesting to see he was that impressed with its spaciousness. Overall, the final grade for the Merecedes B-Class was an "A"...

Keep Reading "Canadian Review Of The B-Class"

Thanks to everyone for sending us this story, but we'll have to give credit to Gabriel for sending it to us first.  Today, Mercedes announced they will be recalling 50,000 vehicles, due to a potential problem with the windshield wipers.  The recall, which will primarily affect the German market, includes A-Class models built from April of 2002 through April of 2003, and Vaneo models built from April of 2002 through March of 2003.  This news comes on the heels of Mercedes recalling 1.3 million vehicles earlier this year, the largest in Mercedes' history.

Unless you've been living in a cave for the past several months, I'm sure by now you've heard of Mercedes' so called "quality problems." To be honest, I personally have never been worried about Mercedes quality, and I doubt I ever will...

Keep Reading "Mercedes Screws Up Again"

At a meeting with workers in Mercedes' Sindelfingen factory today, Dieter Zetsche, head of the Mercedes Car Group, defended the company's plans to lay off 8,500 workers.  In a letter, Zetsche wrote that Mercedes "really did explore all possibilities in recent months, but that we have a long and difficult road ahead until the Mercedes Car Group is really competitive again."

The job cuts, which will take place over the next 12 months, will come via retirement packages, voluntary redundancies and not replacing workers who leave the company. As for who's gettng the ax, most of the job cuts will take place at Mercedes' German plants, with 3,100 coming from the Sindelfingen plant, 2,700 from the Bremen plan, and 1,100 from the Stuttgart-Untertuerkheim plant...

Keep Reading "Zetsche Defends Job Cuts"

In a news conference today, Mecedes has announced they will be cutting 8,500 jobs from its German workforce.  This number is up from the original prediction of 5,000 jobs we reported earlier.

The job cuts, which represent 8% of Mercedes' workforce, will come via voluntary termination agreements, and will cost the company an estimated $1.1 billion. Despite the charges, the Mercedes Car Group believes the expenses will be compensated by extraordinary income and improvement in the ongoing operating business, and Daimler Chrysler has maintained its profit forecast for 2005 fiscal year...

Keep Reading "Mercedes Eliminates 8,500 Jobs"

Mercedes is set to debut the B-Class at the Sydney International Auto Show in Australia next month. If you're unfamiliar with the B-Class, it's a new model Mercedes has developed to capture a younger market share.

The B-Class is a mixture of several different vehicles, much like Mercedes' recently introduced R-Class model. It utilizes what Mercedes calls the "sandwich concept," which places the engine and transmission partly in the front of the vehicle and partly beneath the passenger cell. In addition to reducing the dimensions of the vehicle while still maintaining interior spaciousness, the sandwich concept offers improved safety in the event of an accident...

Keep Reading "B-Class Set To Debut In Australia"

Today, Daimler Chrysler announced their fuel cell fleet has hit the one million mile mark, saving an estimated 50,000 gallons of gas and countless numbers of innocent forest creatures along the way.

In an effort to "reduce our nation's dependency on oil," Daimler Chrysler has already invested $1 billion in fuel cell vehicle research. Currently there are over 100 Daimler Chrysler fuel cell vehicles operating worldwide, including Mercedes-Benz F-Cell passenger cars, Dodge Sprinter medium-duty vans, and Citaro transportation buses. Daimler Chrysler plans to have more than 30 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the United States by the end of 2005.

Keep Reading "Fuel Cell Fleet Hits One Million Mile Mark"...

Although it's been talked about for quite some time now, rumor has it Mercedes' new GL-Class is set to debut at the Detroit Auto Show this January.  After disappointing sales in the SUV segment, the GL is Mercedes' attempt at capturing a larger American audience.  The GL, which is expected to replace the current G-Class, is based on the same platform as the ML and R-Class models, and will compete with large gas-sucking U.S. built SUV's, such as the Cadillac Escalade and Lincoln Navigator...

Keep Reading "Mercedes Diversifies Its SUV Lineup"

In an interview today, Dieter Zetsche, head of the Mercedes Car Group, told reporters "A lot of work has to be done."  The work he's referring to is repairing Mercedes' financial problems and re-establishing Mercedes as the world leader in the luxury car segment.  Or so I would have to guess.

One of Zetsche's major concerns is productivity, which could indicate the job cuts we reported about earlier may be drawing near. According to Zetsche, "The productivity issue is a major issue, and we have to address it." Zetsche went on to say that a plan will be announced "in the near term," and elaborated that every part of the Mercedes Car Group, not just manufacturing plants, will be under scrutiny...

Keep Reading "Zetsche Looks To The Future"

Every day, we come into work and bring you the latest Mercedes-Benz news and information, often combining it with satirical humor unrivaled by any other Mercedes website in existence.  Yet, despite our love for what we call, the world's greatest auto manufacturer, Mercedes has decided not to reciprocate our undying love and affection, and has instead embarked on an advertising campaign with larger yet far less entertaining websites such as Edmunds, MSN, and Cars.com.  OK, so maybe the other sites have 10 million more readers than us every month, but do a few extra readers really matter?  Mercedes, we've loved you since the moment we laid eyes on you, and we will always love you. Do these other so-called automotive sites share our same affinity for you?  I think not.

Oh well, I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Maybe someday our paths will intertwine with Mercedes, and we'll be able to spend eternity together.  Until then, my loyal readers, you'll be forced to continue looking at the hideous Google ads scattered throughout our website.  I'm sorry, I really am...

Keep Reading "Nobody Loves Us"

A few weeks ago, we brought you a story about Fisker unveiling the Tramonto, a custom coachbuild based on the Mercedes-Benz SL55.  At the time, I didn't say too much about it; I was hoping it would magically disappear and I would never have to hear its name mentioned again.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Countless numbers of publications and websites have been praising the Tramonto, inviting their readers on a magical journey full of whimsical bullsh*t that they describe as, "The Art of Custom Coachbuilding." 

Enough is enough.  Today, I witnessed yet another publication prostitute themselves review the Tramonto. This time, the winner is Autoweek, who dedicated an entire article to Fisker, aka the coachbuilding god, with only one line actually giving their opinion of the test car...

Keep Reading "My Opinion Of The Fisker Tramonto"

The McLaren-Mercedes team once again dominated the Brazilian Grand Prix by taking the top two spots in Sao Paulo today.  Juan Pablo Montoya, winner of last year's Brazilian GP, took top honors once again, followed by his teammate Kimi Raikkonen. 

But the real story of the day is Renault's Fernando Alonso, who finished third and became the F1's youngest champion at only 24 years of age.  To capture the record, which was set by a 25 year old Emerson Fittipaldi in 1972, Alonso needed to finish in at least third place in any of the three remaining races.  He did so today, earning his place in F1's history books and putting an end to Michael Schumacher's five-year winning streak...

Keep Reading "Montoya Wins Brazilian Grand Prix"

Growing up, one of my favorite games was tag. The object of the game is simple.  One person is designated "it," and that person must then run and try to tag one of the other people playing the game.

After reading an interesting article today, it seems I'm not the only one who enjoys playing tag.  In Russia, drivers enjoy  playing tag as well; however, they have a somewhat different version of tag than the one I played growing up.  Apparently in Russia, you're "it" if you're driving a Mercedes, and the object is to tag pedestrians as they make their way across the street.

OK, so maybe it's not necessarily a game, but the Russians, in their vodka-induced haze, have no qualms about mowing down pedestrians the same way Clara Harris had no qualms about mowing down her cheating husband. According to the article, in Moscow alone, more than 14 people are hit by cars every day, and 300 have already died this year. As for the rest of Russia, last year 34,506 people were killed and a quarter of a million were injured in road accidents - that's nearly double the rate in America...

Keep Reading "Vodka And Mercedes Don't Mix"

Rumor has it Daimler Chrysler is moving closer to eliminating 5,000 jobs at the Mercedes Car Group's German plant.  This comes after a deal last year between Daimler Chrysler and the works council that guaranteed no worker at its German plants would be laid off, in exchange for concessions that will generate Daimler Chrysler 500 million euros in savings for 2007.  In other words, the only way for Daimler Chrysler to cut 5,000 jobs will be via volunteers who will receive tidy little buyout packages. How much you ask? Daimler Chrysler is expected to incur charges in the triple digit millions of euros. Ouch...

Keep Reading "Daimler Chrysler Moves Closer To Job Cuts"

While browsing the Mercedes website today looking for racing news, I stumbled on a section all you die-hard racing fans need to check out.  There's information on F1, DTM, and F3 racing, including schedules, rankings, team and driver information, and photographs.  There's even individual race track data and background information about the city the race is being held in.  If you're a racing fan, check it out, I think you'll find it pretty interesting...

Keep Reading "F1 Sao Paulo Race Preview"

Growing up, I remember all the cool kids in school picking on the smart kids.  While the jocks were off chasing girls and talking about football, the nerds were playing on their computers and talking about programming languages.  What were the smart kids thinking?  What a bunch of dorks.

As time went on, everyone graduated and went their separate ways.  The cool kids all stuck around their hometown, worked odd jobs here and there, and never amounted to anything.  The smart kids took a different approach.  After graduation, they decided to start a software company, developed some kick-ass program, and got bought out by a Fortune 500 company for the tidy sum of $47.8 million...

Keep Reading "Forbes Lists Top Ten Most Expensive Cars"