YourMercedes-Benz Dealer Blog

After several fires broke out in Mercedes Benz engines over the past two weeks in the United Kingdom, the Welsh Ambulance Society has launched an inquiry into the vehicles.

The fleet was worth 16 million pounds and was just recently introduced into service in Wales. Mercedes Benz is launching an urgent investigation from their perspective, but is urging officials to not remove any vehicles from the fleet prematurely. The Welsh Ambulance Service hasn’t said whether any vehicles in the fleet would be taken off of the road or whether any actionw ould be taken against Mercedes Benz, but they are treating the matter as “very serious.”

It is understood that two ambulance engines caught fire in North Wales, one near Bangor, Gwynedd, and the other on the A55. The third incident was in the south of the country. Thankfully, nobody was hurt in any of the fires.

The 119-strong fleet of Mercedes Sprinter 515 vehicles was introduced in Wales last year and hailed as the “best ambulance in service in the UK.” Mercedes Benz was charged with improving the service in the region and, before the fires, the vehicles were gaining several accolades.

Without a firm investigation of the fires, there is no reason to suspect a central flaw in the engines. Mercedes vehicles tend to be very reliable and the ambulance fires may be related to other factors. The ambulance service has said that there were no modifications made to the engines, but there may be some other conditions worth investigating.

A team from Germany is heading to Wales to investigate the fires.

Mercedes Benz TV may seem like a downright wacky idea, but the automobile company has been operating their own television network for a year online and will be setting up their channel on August 29, 200 on TV DIGITAL Personal.

The platform for Mercedes Benz TV will be personalized to each user, so viewers and visitors will be able to customize their experience. This new personalized TV platform provided by publisher Axel Springer is to be launched at the forthcoming IFA consumer electronics trade fair in Berlin and will showcase a plethora of new options for users.

“For more than one year, Mercedes-Benz TV has been enabling online viewers to experience the fascination of our brand in even more diverse ways,” says Dr. Olaf Göttgens, Vice President Brand Communications Mercedes-Benz Cars.

By adding TV DIGITAL as an avenue, Mercedes Benz opens up their marketing strategy to a whole new target audience. “Via the innovative platform TV DIGITAL Personal, we will now be able to reach new target audiences even more closely with current items from Mercedes-Benz TV,” said Göttgens.

TV DIGITAL Personal offers viewers the chance to select their own personalized programing from all of the existing TV and Internet TV channels. This highly customizable option is exciting news for Mercedes Benz, as the company continues to branch out in new ways to market Mercedes vehicles to an ever-growing consumer base.

One of the United Kingdom’s most prestigious car magazines has named the Mercedes Benz S-class as the Best Luxury Car of 2008. This marks the third consecutive year the Mercedes Benz class has won the award.

Auto Express editor-in-chief, David Johns had this to say about the coveted S-class: “Few cars have reigned over such competitive sectors with such complete authority as the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. To many there simply isn’t a better limousine. Beautifully engineered both inside and out, it’s one of those rare cars that is as good to drive as it is to be driven in.”

The Mercedes Benz S-class is a series of the largest sedans produced by the company. It is also the world’s best-selling luxury car design, putting Mercedes Benz among the finest luxury car companies in the world for several consistent years of production.

Because of the prestige of the S-class, Mercedes Benz has used the series to premiere many of its innovations. Advanced safety systems, interior features, and all new drivetrain technologies have all found their infancy aboard new S-class models. The S-Class also introduced the first airbag supplemental restraint systems, seatbelt pretensioners, and electronic stability program.

If the S-class keeps cleaning up awards like this, it will stay on top of the luxury market for quite some time and will give customers even more reasons to make Mercedes vehicles their vehicles of choice.

There are reports today that Mercedes Benz Vice President of Brand Communications Dr. Olaf Göttgens may be on his way out of the German automaker. Word is that he may be considering a role as the chief executive officer at the Rodenstock Group, an eyeglass maker based out of Munich.

A contract between Olaf and the Rodenstock Group has not yet been signed, but there is word out of the Mercedes Benz camp that execs are working to find a replacement for the departed veep.

According to financial reports, the group in charge of ownership for the Rodenstock Group has been experiencing a bit of an overhaul. With Mercedes Benz’s reputation for international branding being enviable amongst many companies, regardless of the field, it’s no small wonder that the VP of Brand Communications should be considered a compelling commodity.

Göttgens won’t be easily replaced, but Mercedes Benz most likely has a few options on the table for consideration. They may hire within and promote someone from underneath to the position. Conversely, they may start fresh and look for new blood in the marketing department. Regardless of the outcome of the move, Mercedes Benz will continue to utilize its strengths in the marketing realm.

Benz Mercedes cars and trucks have been selling well and their introduction to hybrid technology is the focal point of new marketing strategies. The new VP will address those issues almost immediately, one would guess, and would help promote Mercedes vehicles on as wide as scale as possible throughout the world.

One of Man U’s top strikers, Wayne Rooney, has just inked a deal with Mercedes Benz that should boost his already high profile considerably.

The idea seems largely geared towards the United Kingdom, as most people in the United States won’t have the foggiest idea as to who Wayne Rooney is. He’ll be featured in print ads and possibly in television ads, depending on the finer details of the contract. One thing’s for sure, Rooney’s face will be plastered all over London yet again.

The deal with Mercedes Benz is a two-year contract. It also provided Rooney with a brand new custom Mercedes-Benz CL63 AMG worth $225,000 as a signing bonus. Not bad, eh?

While Wayne Rooney won’t be tooling around in any certified used cars anytime soon, the deal should help boost the Mercedes image in the UK and should give a sort of “everyman” approach to the vehicles from the company. With Wayne Rooney as a spokesperson, it’s a good time for Mercedes to focus even more on sports marketing for that additional touch of exposure.

So Mercedes vehicles may seem well out of reach for the majority of us, but with Wayne Rooney representing the company, we can at least have a laugh when we picture the once-unknown soccer player tooling around as the face of a major car company. Our young man has made it, we’ll say. And we’ll be sure to wave as he cruises by in his CL63 AMG.

And we’ll try not to look too jealous.

Mercedes Benz is going down the road of BMW and will be offering HD radio on some of its 2009 models. With CD-quality sound on FM radio stations, HD radio is going to be a top-drawer grab for Mercedes Benz drivers and will enhance the overall sound system in the Benz models.

BMW has been offering HD radio on its models for the past year and Mercedes Benz will follow suit in 2009 by adding it to the 2009 E-, M-, R-, GL-, and G-class models.

The system works well because most radio stations in major cities have gone the way of HD technology. San Francisco boasts about 40 HD radio stations alone, so one can see the growth in the marketplace. Mercedes Benz is not merely investing itself in cheapened and rare technology.

Certified used cars from Mercedes Benz will obviously not have the option for HD radio, but there is word that the extra feature could be added to other vehicles upon owner request and, of course, a modest fee.

There is also an updated navigation system that will be added to most 2009 Mercedes vehicles, which is a welcome change from the old-fashioned system that preceded it.

It looks like Mercedes Benz is heavily interested in the country of Brazil and in investing lots of capital in its industry.

The latest investment by Mercedes Benz in Brazil lies with almost $1 billion U.S. to expand its production of trucks, buses and parts in Brazil, at its plant in São Bernardo do Campo, in the ABCD region of the Greater São Paulo in south-eastern Brazil.

The funds will be invested with the purpose of expanding production at the plant, thus adding more capability to the plant’s output and earning more capital for Mercedes Benz in the long run. The funds will also be utilized for upgrading factory capabilities, improving logistics, and increasing the level of nationalization that the products currently enjoy.

The prediction is that the daily production of the plant should be able to increase by about 25% after the investment is made. Benz Mercedes is banking on this, obviously.

The investment will be made over the next three years and reinforces Mercedes Benz’s philosophy towards South America and its interest in investing in the region to help boost production and overall sales of their product lines.

Mercedes vehicles have long been popular around the world and the additional infusion of funds in South America should help increase their influence even more.

Now that the summer months are more than upon us, the convertible season has been going strong. Some car companies are doing better than others, but Mercedes-Benz seems to be doing rather well in terms of its topless sales. Whether used Mercedes Benz or brand new Mercedes Benz convertibles, the sales in the summer car department are surprisingly good.

The Mercedes Benz SL-Class has been carrying on a strong tradition with Mercedes vehicles, using the same basic system since the introduction of the gull-wing classic SL-Class vehicle in 1954. The latest and fifth generation of the SL-Class has been selling like hotcakes, earning 145,000 customers so far.

In a day and age of carefulness when it comes to automobiles, any sales upturn can be seen as good news for these car companies. That’s why Mercedes Benz has more than one good reason to be excited about the profits for their SL-Class.

Since the commencement of the year, more than 8,000 customers around the world have purchased SL-Class models. Demand for the SL is chiefly high in the United States, where half of all SL-Class roadsters are sold. The SL 500 is by far the most popular model among customers who choose SLs.

Watching the opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games in Beijing is quite fun, but being there could be hectic and confounding despite all of the pageantry and excitement. I can only imagine the piles of people packed into China for the games, all panting and wanting to watch the events from as close a vantage point as possible.

The problem is, or seems to be, that there aren’t enough rental cars to go around. Whether looking for certified used cars to rent or brand spanking new Mercedes vehicles to rent, it’s a more than difficult task to procure one.

If you do find one, the odds are that the prices on the rentals are so incredibly high that you’re better off walking from event to event for the two week extent of the Games.

Beijing will welcome than 2 million visitors to the city to watch the Games. The steep number of people combined with the new restrictions on easing congestion and pollution in the city has meant that Beijing’s rental firms have been preparing for the opportunities. But some cars are still short in supply, notwithstanding the fact that prices have doubled and even risen to four times the standard price.

Daimler AG is getting set to construct 45,000 fewer Mercedes-Benz vehicles than previously thought. A Benz Mercedes spokesperson told reporters today that labour representatives were in negotiations about the procedure of cutting production at the car company’s German plants. According to the rep, a deal had already been struck with the plant in Untertuerkheim that makes engines for all Mercedes factories.

The deal with the plant signed for 45,000 fewer engine parts and axles, which certainly stands as a stark symbol for a diminishment in Benz Mercedes overall production.

The plan also calls for eliminating a shift on a daily or weekly basis until the end of the year. Production would halt for a week in late October and the standard break around the Christmas holidays would be extended for a few days, giving some workers much more time off than they would desire.

Mercedes-Benz brand sales rose 3.4% in the first seven months of the year to 691,900 units. Sales in the United States, Asia and Germany stayed strong, but deliveries in southern Europe and Britain dropped in the past few months.

The impact this will have on Mercedes vehicles in the long run remains to be seen, of course, but as you and I both know, there are not really any good signs that can be pulled from a car company reducing its production in such a way. It surely spells trouble for the German automaker.