Welcome, welcome, welcome ladies and gentlemen; I hope you all had a great weekend.
To kick things off on this sunny April morning, I'm going to bring you a quick recap of the DTM season opener that took place in Hockenheim over the weekend. As always, if you have it TIVO'd, read no further; otherwise, here's how the race transpired...
Next up in our first unofficial FAB DESIGN day, we have the FAB DESIGN Mercedes M-Class.
As you can see from the photos, the FAB kit for the M- is slightly more pronounced than the S-Class' modifications.
To kick things off, FAB began by adding a new front bumper featuring integrated ram protection and an underride guard. In the rear, the M-Class received a rounded valance and a new cover for the tailgate. And finally, as was the case with the S-Class, FAB wrapped up the M's tuning package by adding a stainless steel quad exhaust system and custom-designed 20" rims...
Mercedes sales figures, job cuts, the James Cook... blah, blah, blah.
As you're scanning the current crop of stories, I already know what you're thinking - financials are great, but I need to customize my ride, dammit. I can't have Reggie Bush out rollin' in his CLS Shark II, while I'm sittin' in my stock Benz. Help me eMercedesBenz, help me.
If I'm speaking to you - if you're ready to outshine Reggie and any other professional athletes, today is your day. Why? Because I am officially proclaiming that today is FAB DESIGN day. The next three stories... nothing but tuning goodness, courtesy of FAB DESIGN.
I'm going to kick things off with my personal favorite, the FAB DESIGN kit for the always illustrious 2007 Mercedes S550...
DaimlerChrysler is reporting today that in addition to the tremendous sales success of MBUSA last month, the Mercedes Car Group has noted equally impressive results, increasing sales 17% for the month of March. In total, sales of the Mercedes, Maybach and smart brands increased to 138,400 units (compared to 118,000 in March of 2005), making it the best sales month of all time.
Through the first quarter of the year, the Mercedes Car Group has also noted a significant improvement, increasing sales 12% to a record figure of 295,000 units (compared to 262,900 in 2005)...
Forbes is reporting today that as of the end of March, DaimlerChrysler has achieved 90% of its planned 8,500 job cuts.
According to the article, 7,800 employees have either accepted severance packages or already left the company.
The job cuts, most of which are coming from German Mercedes production plants, were originally expected to take as long as September of this year to complete.
In a recent poll conducted by "promobil" magazine, the Mercedes-Benz James Cook was voted "Camper Van of the Year 2006" by the publication's readers.
Edging out 282 competitors, the James Cook took top honors in both the best camper van over EUR 40,000 and the overall categories, earning 56% of the approximately 20,000 votes tallied. Since its inception in 1995, the James Cook has been honored with the award twelve consecutive times...
Although not scheduled for release until April of 2007, spy photographer extraordinaire 'skoochyatone' has just sent us the first images of what we can expect from the newest smart fortwo.
As you can see from the photos, it appears the latest smart will remain similar in shape and size to the current model. Early rumors indicate the next smart fortwo will feature more streamlined headlights (see last photo), and despite the disguise, the spy photos appear to substantiate this fact...
As you can probably tell, it's been a slow day for Mercedes news, so I decided I'd take a second and catch up on some of the emails we've received over the past couple weeks.
While doing so, I came across an email from a reader by the name of Jakpro1 who pointed out some entertaining features found on Mercedes-Benz.com.
Although there's nothing new for those familiar with Mercedes' international website, if you tend to stick to MBUSA.com, below are a few fun highlights you may have missed...
Picture for a moment that you are Reggie Bush... star running back/tailback/wide reciever for the USC Trojans; soon to be top pick in this year's NFL draft.
Now picture what you would drive.
If your selection was the Mercedes CLS fitted with an ASMA-Design CLS Shark II body kit and Lowenhart wheels, then you and Reggie have something in common - you both picked the same vehicle, and you're both insane...
