Daimler

  • Ford's award-winning 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine

    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...

  • 2014 Ford Fiesta: EcoBoost (European version)
    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...

  • BMW using 1-Series and MINI Cooper in DriveNow initiative
    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...

  • Project Visio.M: Electric Car
    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...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S beta vehicle, Fremont, CA, October 2011
    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...

  • Leaked BYD/Daimler Electric Car Renderings (The WallStreetJournal)
    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...

  • Daimler and BYD logos

    The electric car being jointly developed by Daimler and BYD for the Chinese market is expected to debut in prototype form next April.

  • 2011 Smart Fortwo
    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...

  • Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell with mobile refueler
    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...

  • Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELL
    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...

  • Dieter Zetsche
    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...

  • 'Revenge of the Electric Car' premiere: Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk on red carpet
    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...

  • 2011 Wheego Whip LiFe at 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show

    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...

  • Smart ForTwo ED
    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...

  • Daimler and BYD logos
    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...

  • BMW M6 carbon-fiber roof
    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...

  • Audi A1 e-tron Concept
    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...

  • 2012 Smart-Nissan hatchback
    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...

  • BYD e6

     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...

  • 2006 Mercedes-Benz B-Class
    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...

  • Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors
    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...

  • Daimler and BYD logos
    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...

  • 2010 Tesla Roadster Sport
    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...

  • 2009 dodge ram pickup 001
    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...

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