Car & Bike News » Mercedes

85,000 Mercedes recalled over power steering

admin — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 05:34:25 +0000

Daimler AG is recalling about 85,000 Mercedes-Benz vehicles in the United States to prevent a loss of power steering fluid.
The government’s auto safety agency says in a posting to its website Monday that the recall involves Mercedes-Benz C-Class vehicles from the 2010 model year and Mercedes-Benz E-Class vehicles from the 2010-2011 model years.

The German automaker told the government that the loss of fluid could make it difficult to control the vehicle in a parking lot, where maximum power steering is required.

The recall is expected to begin this month. Owners may contact Mercedes-Benz at (800) 367-6372.

Mercedes surpasses Lexus in U.S. luxury car sales

admin — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 07:16:02 +0000

The race for the top-selling luxury marque in the United States took a turn in September as Mercedes-Benz used a 22 percent monthly gain to overtake Lexus after nine months.

Sales of Mercedes-brand vehicles, including Sprinter vans, rose to 20,675, as deliveries of the E-Class sedan continued to propel the brand.

“We’re going to continue in the same direction as we have for the first nine months,” CEO Ernst Lieb said in an interview. “Will it be necessarily again another 22 percent up or so? Maybe not, but we definitely see a two-digit increase for the remainder of the year.”

Deliveries for BMW’s namesake brand rose 21 percent to 18,228 from last September. Lexus sales fell 6 percent last month to 16,948, in an overall market that gained 29 percent from a weak September a year earlier.

“It’s been a challenging year for the whole industry,” Brian Smith, U.S. vice president of Lexus sales, said in a conference call Friday. “We feel real good about where we are this year. I don’t think we’re going to lose leadership this year, but time will tell.”

Mercedes sales are up 22 percent 165,427 so far this year, while Lexus has risen 9 percent to 162,438. BMW deliveries are up 9 percent to 157,464 in an industry that has risen 10 percent.

Through August, Lexus had led Mercedes by 737 vehicles.

Mercedes, Renault-Nissan Team Up

admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 07:17:49 +0000

Daimler chief Dieter Zetsche and Renault/Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn have signed an agreement to share technologies and platforms, with a small 3.1% equity exchanging hands. The two heads lead a 12-member committee to identify and work on projects where the three auto giants can find synergy to better compete with competitors.

This is the latest in a long line of attempts by luxury car Mercedes to partner with a mass-market automaker that can help with popularly priced models without compromising the three-pointed star brand. The 3 companies expect to realize cost savings and added revenue of about $5.4 billion from the deal, which is open-ended in time and number of potential projects. It also helps Renault/Nissan fill up its underutilized capacity and helps both pose credible threat to Volkswagen Group surge.