Daimler
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German automaker Daimler is more familiar with three-cylinder engines than you might think. In fact, it even sells one right here in the U.S. If you guessed "Smart Fortwo", then award yourself a prize. The tiny two-seater has thrummed along on a three-pot for several years now, and for many previous years elsewhere after its original European launch in the late 1990s. Not that there isn't more to learn, which is why Daimler and Ford engineers have recently been exchanging information on their small engines. Automotive News Europe reports the two automakers have looked at each others' engine...
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Sharing Savvy: Smart & Ford Discuss Fuel-Efficient Three-Cylinder Engines
In spy movies, information is used as a form of currency; it's traded for hostages, treasure, and occasionally, more information. But the practice isn't just limited to films. It takes place in the business world, too, and the auto industry is no exception. According to AutoNews, Ford and Daimler...
Richard Read -
BMW Earns Profit By The Minute With Car Sharing: Is Ownership Dead?
In case you haven't heard: car sharing is big business. Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of car-sharing companies. Zipcar -- America's pioneer in the sector -- represents one type, which is similar to a traditional rental car business, except it operates on a membership model. Renters pay...
Richard Read -
German Consortium, Including BMW, Daimler, Siemens, Design A Better Electric Car
BMW and Daimler have traditionally been rivals in the automotive world, but last week we learned that engineers from the two rival German companies have been working together on a joint project to design and test a safer, more affordable, more efficient electric car. The Visio.M project, funded to...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Abu Dhabi Sells Off 7-Percent Tesla Stake, Makes $133 Million
Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates, might be working hard to ensure that the oil-producing nation becomes more environmentally friendly--but that hasn’t stopped its state-owned utility company from selling its 7 percent stake in Californian electric automaker Tesla Motors...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Is This What The Electric Car Love-Child Of Daimler, BYD Looks Like? Apparently So
Since July, the Internet has been home to serval renderings claiming to be of the new electric car being developed by German automaker Daimler and its Chinese auto partner BYD. So far, no-one within BYD or Daimler has confirmed the authenticity of the pictures, but according to The Wall Street...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
The electric car being jointly developed by Daimler and BYD for the Chinese market is expected to debut in prototype form next April.
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Is Second Time The Charm For Smart's ForTwo In U.S. Market?
The 2011 Smart ForTwo minicar: Cramped, noisy, slow and unsafe, right? If you answered yes to all those then the new team running Smart USA for Daimler AG is banking on a new educational advertising campaign drawing you in. Smart USA thinks the slide in popularity of the model is down to what the...
Antony Ingram -
Fuel-Cell Vehicles Are Likely Coming (A Few): Who's Winning?
We're on record with the analysis that electric-car production will far, far outweigh that of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles built over the next decade, and perhaps longer. Still several carmakers are pressing ahead with plans to build hydrogen-powered vehicles, and now Pike Research has ranked them...
John Voelcker -
Mercedes-Benz Buddies Up To Build More Hydrogen Fuel Stations
There was a time when hydrogen powered cars were all the rage in green car circles. They either came with advanced fuel cell electric drivetrains, the most notable being the Honda FCX Clarity and more recent Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-Cell, two models which regular customers could actually lease, or...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Daimler CEO: 1 Million Electric Cars in Germany by 2020? Not Likely
It may only be two weeks since Germany’s Chancellor Merkel announced that her government would help bring 1 million plug-in vehicles to the roads of Germany by 2020 but her bold goal is already being dismissed as impossible by the very automakers her Government is planning to help. Enter...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Elon Musk Says Tesla Won't Be Sold, But Elon Musk Is Wrong
In a sign of its continuing need for capital--and the good performance thus far of its stock--Tesla Motors said today it would sell 5.3 million more shares of common stock. At the same time, according to the announcement, Tesla CEO Elon Musk plans to buy an additional 1.5 million shares of the...
John Voelcker -
It's hard to start a car company. Really, really, really, really, really hard. Which is why little Wheego Electric Cars is having a tough time of it at the moment. Last week, CEO Mike McQuary told industry trade journal Automotive News that the company was "living hand-to-mouth" and that its first 200 cars "will creep out as we raise money." This is not a particularly useful way to attract buyers, who may already be apprehensive about buying an electric car with only two seats that was designed and partly assembled in China. That electric car, by the way, costs $33,995. That's more than...
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Daimler Adds Bosch To Electric Car Collaborative Projects
You’d be forgiven for thinking that German automaker Daimler was trying to build its own little electric car empire. Not only does it have active electric car projects running with Nissan-Renault, BYD and Tesla, but it has now announced intent to work on a project with the automotive arm of...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
BYD-Daimler Electric Car Partnership Approved: Who Gets What?
Cooperation between automotive brands is hardly new, but on the face of it the latest joint automotive project between the owner of luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz and an upstart Chinese battery firm best known for missing its own deadlines isn't that obvious. Peel back the layers however and it...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Daimler And Japan’s Toray Form Carbon Fiber Joint Venture
Carbon fiber is seen by many in the auto industry as one of the most effective ways of reducing vehicle weight and thus improving fuel economy and emissions levels, but the relative expense of the material means that it’s still reserved for only a handful of high-end production cars. BMW has...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
VW, Daimler: There’s a Future in Electric Cars, Not Quite Yet
Can there ever be such a thing as too much honesty when it comes to frank discussions about your company policy? Normally we’d say no, but when you start to sow the seeds of doubt about the thing you’re trying to sell we’d say otherwise. Especially in the case of Christian...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Smart, Nissan to Share Car for U.S.
Smart USA has confirmed it will have a new car in its showrooms starting in late 2011--and that the new car will be sourced from Nissan. As a part of a wide-ranging cooperation forged earlier this year between Nissan-Renault and Daimler, the companies will share technology and development costs for...
Martin Padgett -
Build Your Dreams, one of China's largest battery and electric vehicle companies, has been telling us for months that it plans to bring affordable, competitive and safe electric vehicles to the U.S. market very soon. But as the months roll on, BYD's claim to get a car to market sooner rather than later is fading. However, it's not federal safety tests or poor product design which is causing the Chinese company concerns at the moment. It's poor sales performance and lengthy court battles. Late last week, BYD announced it planned to delay plans to list on the Shenzhen stock market after the...
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Report: BYD Will Borrow Mercedes-Benz B-Class Platform For New EV
Back in March we first reported that German auto giant Daimler was partnering with Chinese automaker and battery specialist BYD to further develop electric vehicle technology and help accelerate their production. While few actual details of the partnership were revealed at the signing, we now have...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
If Musk Ever Leaves Tesla, Daimler Will Help Choose New CEO
What would happen if the charismatic CEO responsible for the 2009 Tesla Roadster -- the most sexy electric sports car to hit the roads of the U.S. this century -- were to leave the Silicon Valley startup company he co-founded? Now we know: The possibly less-sexy, less-charismatic, less-electrified...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Daimler looks beyond Tesla with BYD electric-car partnership
Until Toyota stepped in last week, Daimler was the only major auto manufacturer to take a stake in electric-car startup Tesla Motors — a company that has now become synonymous with next-generation transportation. Now Daimler wants to work the same magic with BYD, the Chinese battery and electric...
John Voelcker -
All-Wheel Drive And Crossovers In The Pipeline For Tesla
Tesla has hinted on several occasions in the past that it wants to expand its range of vehicles beyond the current Roadster and upcoming Model S sedan in the very near future. The CEO of the electric car start-up, Elon Musk, has now reaffirmed his company’s plans to do just that, by revealing...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Chrysler Kills Ram Two-Mode Hybrid Pickup Truck After All
The big green car news from Chrysler yesterday was its announcement that it would build an electric version of the Fiat 500 mini-car for the U.S. market. Win one, lose one, perhaps. The company also dropped a death notice: It has ended development of its Ram Two-Mode Hybrid pickup truck, scheduled...
John Voelcker