Sunday, April 29, 2012

E-Class

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class is a range of executive cars manufactured by Mercedes-Benz in various engine and body configurations. The E initially stood for Einspritzmotor, (German for fuel injection engine); a new feature in volume production vehicles at the time that the E-Class first appeared, with the E as a suffix to the engine nomenclature (e.g. 230E) in the 1950s. It was not until the launch of the facelifted W124 that the E was used as a prefix (i.e., E220) and the model referred to officially as the E-Class (or E-Klasse). At this time all Mercedes cars used fuel injection and the company felt it was not necessary to add this as a distinguishing feature. Due to the E-Class's size and durability, the cars also frequently serve as taxis in European countries. Older models like the W123 and W124 are used in Malaysia as inter-state taxis, and the W211 is used in Singapore as a taxi. Mercedes-Benz also offers special-purpose vehicles (e.g., police or ambulance modifications) from the factory.

Tuning AMG

Several companies have become car tuners (or modifiers) of Mercedes Benz, in order to increase performance and/or luxury to a given model.
AMG is Mercedes-Benz's in-house performance-tuning division, specialising in high-performance versions of most Mercedes-Benz cars. AMG engines are all hand-built, and each completed engine receives a tag with the signature of the engineer who built it. AMG has been wholly owned by Mercedes-Benz since 1999. The 2009 SLS AMG, a revival of the 300SL Gullwing, is the first car to be entirely developed by AMG.
There are numerous independent tuners including, Brabus, Carlsson, Kleemann, Renntech and MKB.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Mercedes Innovations

Numerous technological innovations have been introduced on Mercedes-Benz automobiles throughout the many years of their production, including:
  • The internal combustion engined automobile was developed independently by Benz and Daimler & Maybach in 1886
  • Daimler invented the honeycomb radiator of the type still used on all water-cooled vehicles today
  • Daimler invented the float carburetor which was used until replaced by fuel injection

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Environmental Record

Mercedes-Benz has developed multi concept cars with alternative propulsion, such as hybrid-electric, fully electric, and fuel-cell powertrains. At the 2007 Frankfurt motor show, Mercedes-Benz showed seven hybrid models, including the F700 concept car, powered by a hybrid-electric drivetrain featuring the DiesOtto engine. In 2009, Mercedes-Benz displayed three BlueZERO concepts at the North American International Auto Show. Each car features a different powertrain - battery-electric, fuel-cell electric, and gasoline-electric hybrid. In the same year, Mercedes also showed the Vision S500 PHEV concept with a 19 miles (31 km) all-electric range and CO2 emissions of 74 grams/km in the New European Driving Cycle.

In Formula One

Mercedes-Benz took part in the world championship in 1954 and 1955, but despite being successful with two championship titles for Juan-Manuel Fangio, the company left the sport after just two seasons. He is considered by many to be the best F1 driver in history.
Mercedes-Benz returned as an engine supplier in the 1990s and part-owned Team McLaren for some years, to which it has supplied engines engineered by Ilmor since 1995. This partnership brought success, including drivers championships for Mika Häkkinen in 1998 and 1999, and for Lewis Hamilton in 2008, as well as a constructors championship in 1998. The collaboration with McLaren had been extended into the production of roadgoing cars such as the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren.
In 2007, McLaren-Mercedes was fined a record US$100 million for stealing confidential Ferrari technical data.
In 2009, Ross Brawn's newly conceived Formula One team, Brawn GP used Mercedes engines to help win the constructor's championship, and Jenson Button to become champion in the F1 drivers' championship. At the end of the season, Mercedes-Benz sold its 40% stake in McLaren to the McLaren Group and bought 70% of the Brawn GP team jointly with an Abu Dubai based investment consortium. Brawn GP was renamed Mercedes GP for the 2010 season and is, from this season on, a works team for Mercedes-Benz.

Monday, April 23, 2012

The Alphanumerics

Until 1994, Mercedes-Benz used an alphanumeric system for categorising their vehicles, consisting of a number sequence approximately equal to the engine's displacement in liters multiplied by 100, followed by an arrangement of alphabetical suffixes indicating body style and engine type.
  • "C" indicates a coupe or cabriolet body style.
  • "D" means the vehicle is equipped with a diesel engine.
  • "E" (for "Einspritzen") means the vehicle's engine is equipped with petrol fuel injection. In most cases (the 600 limousine being the exception), if neither "E" or "D" is present, the vehicle has a petrol engine with a carburettor.

Quality Ranks

Objective measures looking at passenger vehicles, such as J. D. Power surveys, demonstrated a downturn in the quality and reliability ratings of Mercedes vehicles in the late 1990s and early 2000s. By mid-2005, Mercedes temporarily returned to the industry average for initial quality, a measure of problems after the first 90 days of ownership, according to J.D. Power. In J.D. Power's Initial Quality Study for the first quarter of 2007, Mercedes showed dramatic improvement by climbing from 25th to 5th place, for the first time surpassing quality leader Toyota, and earning several awards for its models. For 2008, Mercedes-Benz's initial quality rating improved by yet another mark, to fourth place. On top of this accolade, it also received the Platinum Plant Quality Award for its Mercedes’ Sindelfingen, Germany assembly plant. J.D. Power's 2011 US Initial Quality and Vehicle Dependability Studies both ranked Mercedes-Benz vehicles above average in build quality and reliability. In the 2011 UK JD Power Survey, Mercedes cars rated above average (scoring ahead of both BMW and Audi, but trailing behind in its quality rating to the industry leader Lexus, as has been the case in all previous years).

Between AMG dan McLaren

Mercedes-Benz AMG became a majority owned division of Mercedes-Benz in 1998. The company was integrated into DaimlerChrysler in 1999, and became Mercedes-Benz AMG beginning on 1 January 1999.

Between 2003 and 2009, Mercedes-Benz produced a limited-production sports car with McLaren Cars, an extension of the collaboration by which Mercedes engines are used by the Team McLaren-Mercedes Formula One racing team, which is part owned by Mercedes. McLaren ceased production of the SLR in 2009 and went on to develop its own car, the McLaren MP4-12C, launched in 2011.

Manufacturers All Over the World

Besides its native Germany, Mercedes-Benz vehicles are also manufactured or assembled in:
  • Argentina (buses, trucks and the Sprinter van. The first Mercedes-Benz factory outside of Germany)
  • Austria (G-Class)
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Brazil Manufacture the trucks, buses and the C-Class. Established in 1956. The A-Class (W168) was produced from 1999 to 2005 as well.
  • Canada
  • Egypt via Egyptian German Automotive Company
  • Hungary

The Classes

Mercedes-Benz carries a full range of passenger, light commercial and heavy commercial equipment. Vehicles are manufactured in multiple countries worldwide. The Smart marque of city cars and Maybach luxury cars are also produced by Daimler AG, there are :

The Mercy's History

Mercedes-Benz (German pronunciation: [mɛʁˈtseːdəs ˈbɛnts]) is a division of the German manufacturer Daimler AG, and the brand is used for automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The name first appeared in 1926 under Daimler-Benz but traces its origins to Daimler's 1901 Mercedes and to Karl Benz's 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen, widely regarded as the first automobile.

Mercedes-Benz traces its origins to Karl Benz's creation of the first petrol-powered car, the Benz Patent Motorwagen, patented in January 1886 and Gottlieb Daimler and engineer Wilhelm Maybach's conversion of a stagecoach by the addition of a petrol engine later that year. The Mercedes automobile was first marketed in 1901 by Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft. The first Mercedes-Benz brand name vehicles were produced in 1926, following the merger of Karl Benz's and Gottlieb Daimler's companies into the Daimler-Benz company. Mercedes-Benz has introduced many technological and safety innovations that later became common in other vehicles. Mercedes-Benz is one of the most well-known and established automotive brands in the world, and is also the world's oldest automotive brand still in existence today. For information relating to the famous three-pointed star, see under the title Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft including the merger into Daimler-Benz.