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A supposedly unofficially confirmed rumor coming from inside Mercedes-Benz has shaken the automotive industry these days. It appears that, after a close analysis, the executives have decided to apply a setback to the SLC AMG supercar, once slated to be released as series product in the second part of 2014. The main concern is the fact this project could be too resource-consuming for the company in its current shape and therefore it was sent all the way to the development table again, to see if costs can somehow be decisively reduced for the sake of motoring enthusiasm. We feel fans don't have to worry the SLC AMG might be put to rest in the end, as the car was already given the greenlight for production some months ago. All in all, the new mid-sized hyper model baring the Star logo should be publicly revealed towards 2016, with the postponement taken into consideration.Based on the global success of the SLS AMG, the little brother SLC is already looking to be an ace in the fleet of the Affalterbach-based firm. A more dynamic body with conventional doors and possibly two new engine choices, V6 and V8 - both of them biturbocharged, a peak output in excess of 500 hp and a complete sports ride management package from AMG are the tough arguments in the fight against the Porsche 911, the main target the SLC is aiming for.Copyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.
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The new-generation of the GLK has now left the Mercedes-Benz Customer Center in Bremen. Andreas Kellerman, manager of the Mercedes-Benz Bremen Plant, gave Stefan Klug from Frankfurt am Oder, the keys of the compact SUV. In addition to the standard equipment, the vehicle also features Active Parking Assist, including Parktronic and the Intelligent Light System. "We are proud of the new GLK," said Andreas Kellermann. "I am confident the new on- and offroad vehicle will be very well received by customers."About the new GLK
With a new design, exclusive appointments, pioneering assistance systems and efficient and agile engines, the new generation of the GLK underscores its claim to leadership of the compact SUV market segment. The newly designed exterior lends this car full of character greater poise. The GLK 2012 comes up trumps with a range of state-of-the-art assistance systems and comprehensive BlueEFFICIENCY measures such as the standard-fit ECO start/stop function. BlueTEC diesel emission control is available for the compact SUV for the first time, enabling compliance with the EU6 emissions standard.About the off-road vehicle trail
For those who want to test the ability of the new GLK in offroad terrain, "The Rock" course is available. Right next to the Mercedes-Benz Customer Center, clients can learn, under the guidance of an instructor, about the off-road qualities of the GLK on different surfaces.Credits: Daimler AGCopyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.
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Mercedes-Benz today celebrated another milestone as production of the new-generation GL-Class was officially started at the Mercedes-Benz Tuscaloosa plant (MBUSI – Mercedes-Benz U.S. International). Markus Schaefer, President and CEO of MBUSI, welcomed more than 3,500 team members and numerous guests, among them state and local officials, along with Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, Daimler AG Board of Management member responsible for manufacturing and procurement Mercedes-Benz Cars and Mercedes-Benz Vans.Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard: “Quality is our first priority. The team in Tuscaloosa is doing a great job in executing a flawless launch of the GL - just like last year with the M-Class. That puts us into a very good position for the important launches here in Tuscaloosa in the future.“
MBUSI President and CEO Markus Schaefer added: “The new GL is yet another shining star from the Mercedes-Benz Tuscaloosa plant and our latest contribution to the Mercedes-Benz growth strategy. While we are taking the time to celebrate this milestone today, we have a lot on our plate and must continue to forge ahead with full steam.” Referring to the production launch of the next-generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class in 2014, Schaefer said: “We will now more and more shift our focus on the preparations for the C-Class, which will challenge us as an entirely new product for our plant. At the same time, I am convinced we are very much on track to maintain and further improve our level of production excellence.”
About the new Mercedes-Benz GL-Class
The new Mercedes-Benz GL-Class demonstrates leadership qualities in all the decisive SUV disciplines. Innovations such as the standard-specification Crosswind Assist, the STEER CONTROL steering assistance system, the load recognition and the COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST (CPA) increase the active safety. With excellent driving dynamics and high levels of ride comfort – both on the road and on difficult terrain – the GL-Class offers the first-class comfort of a luxury sedan and an excellent amount of space for up to seven passengers. More than 200,000 vehicles of its predecessor were sold since the first GL hit the market in 2006.
About MBUSI
The Tuscaloosa plant was founded in 1995 and started production in 1997. The Mercedes-Benz M-Class was the first product and has been built ever since the start of production in 1997, later joined by the SUVs of the GL- and R-Class. In 2011, the plant produced more than 148,000 vehicles and employed more than 2,800 team members at the end of the year. As of 2014, the Tuscaloosa plant will be one of the four global production locations of the successor generation of the current Mercedes-Benz C-Class, and will build these vehicles for the North American market. In 2015, an entirely new Mercedes-Benz model will roll off the production line as the Tuscaloosa plant’s fifth product.Credits: Daimler AGCopyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.
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Round Nine of the 2012 Formula One World Championship is the British Grand Prix on Sunday 8 July. The second home race of the year for the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS team takes place at Silverstone, located just eight miles from the team’s factory in Brackley and 20 miles from Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains in Brixworth. • Seven corners in Silverstone are taken at over 250 kph – only Spa-Francorchamps has more high-speed corners
• The cars exceed 300 kph on five different occasions in the lap and achieve a maximum lateral force of 4.3G
• The British Grand Prix has seen just one Safety Car period in the past five races – compared to 9 in Monaco
Michael Schumacher
“Racing in Silverstone is a special moment every year. It's quite simply the home of motorsport and I'm always amazed by the knowledge and enthusiasm of the British fans - as a racing driver, it's great to experience this passion for our sport. On a personal level, I have many contrasting memories of this circuit; good, not so good and some that are even a little strange... as for how things will go this year, I'd prefer to wait and see. We have already seen plenty of races this year that turned out differently to the expectations before the weekend. Of course, we want to take the momentum from our result in Valencia and put on a good show in Silverstone, especially because this is one of our home races. It goes without saying that we want to give everybody in Brackley and Brixworth a result to be proud of this weekend.”
Nico Rosberg
“Silverstone is a great race for us as most of our team members will be there to watch with their families. I always love the atmosphere there over the weekend and the great British motorsport fans. My best result on this exciting track was third place so, of course, I will be hoping to top that but it’s so hard to make any predictions of performance this season. It’s a demanding track with a lot of high-speed corners dominating the layout, especially from Copse through Becketts to Stowe. It’s difficult to know how good we will be but I’m hopeful that we can achieve a good result.”
Ross Brawn
“As with any of our home races, the British Grand Prix is really a very special weekend for the team, particularly because its proximity to our two Northamptonshire-based factories enables so many of our employees to see our cars in action. Silverstone has a very special atmosphere, with the British fans being so passionate about motorsport, and the new developments which we saw last year have really contributed to creating a fantastic venue for the Grand Prix weekend. Our successful weekend in Valencia has provided a further boost to the team, with a lot of hard work continuing at the factories to further improve our performance, and we look forward to having another strong weekend at Silverstone.”
Norbert Haug“Silverstone is one of the most challenging circuits of the year, with average qualifying lap speeds of over 220 kph and seven of the 18 corners taken at over 250 kph. It is a complete test of both car and driver. This is also a special race for our Silver Arrows works team, with our factories in Brackley and Brixworth both located nearby the circuit, and our colleagues will be watching our British home race with particular attention. Since his first win in China on 15th April, Nico has scored 75 points in six races, just one fewer than championship leader Fernando Alonso in the same period. Michael finished on the podium in third place in Valencia, after technical problems in the previous rounds had prevented him from scoring a similar number of points to his team-mate. Our full focus is now on improving our speed and achieving total reliability. It is also worth noting that the three British drivers on the grid this weekend will be racing with Mercedes-Benz power and, indeed, Mercedes-Benz was part of the last 30 victories for British drivers in Formula 1. Silverstone can lay claim to being on of the homes of motorsport and the fans there are among the most knowledgeable. Everybody in the team is looking forward to this classic race with the aim of delivering a good performance.”~ Official photo and details courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS ~ Copyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.
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The marriage certificate for Mercedes Jellinek and Karl Freiherr von Schlosser is now also in the archive, as is her obituary notice; the lady who gave the Mercedes brand its name died before even reaching forty on 23 February 1929 in Vienna whilst married to her second husband Baron Rudolf Weigl – hence the entry “Mercedes Freifrau von Weigl, née Jellinek-Mercedes”.
Further newly acquired items from the estate include a passport from 1927, on which it can be seen that the Austrian citizen had chestnut-brown hair and green eyes – details that were not apparent on black-and-white photos, and of which the public at least was previously unaware.
The estate has therefore provided a mini-sensation in the shape of the ‘Mercedes in a Mercedes’ photo as well as a host of details which help to shed more light on the history of the world-famous brand’s eponym. After all had her father Emil Jellinek not been so besotted with his daughter, the Mercedes brand would presumably never have seen the light of day – and the “second coming” of the automobile could have been very different.
Background: Mercedes becomes a global brand with boundless charisma
When Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz invented the automobile independently of each other in 1886, excitement for this totally new kind of vehicle was initially somewhat muted in Germany. In Nice, however, well-known Austrian businessman Emil Jellinek was fascinated by the automobile right from the start. His first “big car”, which showed him the way from the three-wheeler to the four-wheeled automobile, was a Benz Viktoria.
The car buff, then in his early forties, became aware of the company Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) in 1896 after reading a newspaper ad, whereupon he set off for Cannstatt in Germany to order two cars. Emil Jellinek was very demanding when it came to performance, electric ignition and many other aspects, always wanting the finest technology available at the time.
He was able to get all of this in Stuttgart. In 1897, the businessman started advertising Daimler cars to the highest echelons of society on the Côte d’Azur. Baron Rothschild and other high-profile personalities of the time bought the German cars from him. By the time Gottlieb Daimler died in 1900, Emil Jellinek had sold 34 cars in this way – no mean feat at that time.
On a personal level, too, the car inventor from Stuttgart and the sophisticated car salesman obviously hit it off, as Gottlieb Daimler invited Jellinek and daughter Mercedes to his villa in Taubenheimstrasse in Cannstatt many times. On these occasions, Jellinek introduced Mr Daimler to the idea of Daimler taking part in races and endurance tests with its own cars and under its own name. He finally convinced both him and the designer Wilhelm Maybach that the future of the automobile lay in speed and elegance. For him, speed was not about the attraction of being careless, rather the actual purpose of a motor vehicle: “If I can’t get any more from a car than I would get from a horse and carriage, I might as well stick with the horse!”.
A Daimler “Phoenix” 28 hp was made specially for him so he could enter a race event in Nice in 1899. There are two versions of events: the first describes how Emil Jellinek named the car he was driving there after his then ten-year-old daughter Mercedes; the second states that he registered for the race under the pseudonym Mr “Mercedes” – apparently deception was fairly common among racing drivers at that time: Baron Henry de Rothschild, for example, starts as Dr. Pascal. Daimler factory driver Wilhelm Bauer wins on Jellinek’s “Phoenix” car the Nizza–Magagnosc–Nizza long-distance drive.
“We have entered the Mercedes era”
Towards the end of March 1900, catastrophe struck during Nice Speed Week: in the Nice–La Turbie hill climb, Wilhelm Bauer died after an accident in a Daimler “Phoenix” 23 hp registered as “Mercedes II”. Co-driver Hermann Braun, who had already rolled over in the second registered car “Mercedes I” in the Nice–Marseille race, once again escaped without injury. The initial reaction from Stuttgart was to blame the excessive engine power for the accident, and to stay away from all high-speed driving in future.
However, Emil Jellinek managed to convince Wilhelm Maybach – Gottlieb Daimler had passed away shortly before this in early March 1900 – that the car’s high centre of gravity was the reason behind the accident: “Victories make you world-famous. People buy the winning brand, and always will. It would be commercial suicide to stay away from racing,” argued Jellinek.
DMG yielded to Jellinek’s urgings and, in April 1900, decided to develop an all-new car with an all-new engine. Following Jellinek’s suggestion, the new model series was to appear under the name “Daimler-Mercedes”. The dealer pledged to take a complete series of 36 cars and ensure that the press in France, Germany, and Austria reported on the new vehicle.
The first new model, a Mercedes 35 hp racing car, was delivered to Jellinek on 22 December 1900. Developed by Wilhelm Maybach, it caused a sensation at the start of the century, as it was the world’s most sophisticated car to date.
At the Nice Speed Week towards the end of March 1901, the Mercedes cars showed what they were made of: achieving four first places and five second places, the Daimler cars were a class apart – in the distance race, on the hill climb and in the mile-long sprint. French manufacturer Panhard & Levassor, which had achieved first place in all the events the previous year, withdrew its vehicles before racing commenced, prompting the General Secretary of the French Automobile Association to deliver a memorable line: “We have entered the Mercedes era.” Up until then, the French were actually considered the better carmakers. By the end of 1901, however, American billionaires such as Rockefeller, Astor, Morgan, and Taylor had all bought powerful Mercedes 40 hp models.
The Mercedes-Benz Classic Archive and Collection
With age comes wisdom, and innovation is based on tradition: these values apply in particular to Mercedes-Benz Classic and its Archive and Collection departments. The archive, one of the largest economic archives in all of Europe, and most probably the most complete archive in the automotive industry, is a remembrance of a unique company, product and idea history, starting with the invention of the automobile in 1886. Its collections show the capability for visionary and constructive development as well as documenting a multi-facetted economic and social history.
Officially, the archive history begins 75 years ago with Administrative Instruction No. 1145 from the company then called Daimler-Benz Aktiengesellschaft (public limited company). It refers to a Management Board announcement on 9 December 1936, stating that engineer Max Rauck had been asked to “gather and inspect our historical written material and picture material, with the aim of creating and administering a historical archive.” Rauck had already spent almost two years in-house sorting out material suitable for archiving at the request of the Management Board.
But the search for evidence of the company’s history was and remains by no means easy. There are still a few surviving documents from Gottlieb Daimler’s time, but documents relating to Benz & Cie are extremely thin on the ground. One exception is the collection of patents from Daimler-Benz AG and its predecessor companies: the oldest patents from Daimler and Benz, which can almost be considered the automobile’s birth certificates, are now part of the archive.
The company archive contains documents and artefacts relating to the company’s employees and history, while the product archive documents the history of passenger cars and commercial vehicles since the invention of the automobile by Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler.
The media archive contains around 3 million photographs from the very early years of automotive engineering right up to the present day. Then there is the large reference library containing some 10,000 books and 220 magazine titles, with the focus on automotive technology and economics. In addition to numerous books dealing with the Mercedes-Benz brand, Daimler AG and the companies that preceded it, there are also extensive works about general aspects of automotive and technological history.
Over and above all of this, the Mercedes-Benz Classic vehicle collection forms the basis for all automotive activities linked with the unique tradition of Mercedes-Benz. An in-house vehicle collection has been kept since 1921, and it now contains more than 900 vehicles, of which around 160 are exhibited in the Mercedes‑Benz Museum.
To this day, the archive team is committed to the increasingly important task of gathering and filing sources from various forms of media. This challenge is also relevant on a productive level, as the users are given tools with which they can extrapolate archive content using several different forms of media. For want of direct descendants, the legacy of Mercedes Jellinek is therefore in precisely the right place – the memories of the entire “Mercedes family”.Credits: Daimler AGCopyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.
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