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Daimler opens the door on Car2go Black with B-Class carsharing

Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler has finally decided to go to its proverbial mothership to further expand its Car2go carsharing service in Europe. The German automaker has long used its itty-bitty Smart Fortwo vehicles for the program, but now it's kicking off a pilot program called Car2go Black that will share Mercedes-Benz B-Class models in Berlin and Hamburg. Daimler will deploy 100 B-Class diesels in each German city. The company says the cars will be parked at so-called "black" parking spots and won't have to be returned to the same spot when the user is done. Daimler, who says the reservation platform is geared for smartphone use, is planning to expand the program to other European cities with existing Car2go service starting this spring. That's important, since once the system is up an running, you will be able to drive a Car2go Black vehicle from one town in the network to another and not need to bring it back. Car2go first started operations in Ulm, Germany, and made its North American debut in Austin, TX, in 2009. The service now has more than 600,000 members worldwide with access to about 10,000 Fortwos in 25 cities throughout Europe and North America. Car2go chief marketing officer J. Paul DeLong said last month that Car2go is the world's largest global carsharing company. You can check out Daimler's Car2go Black press release below. car2go black: Carsharing with the three-pointed star STUTTGART, Germany, Feb. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Daimler Mobility Services offers carsharing with Mercedes-Benz vehicles for the first time Pilot Phase with 200 B-Class vehicles starts in mid- February in Hamburg and Berlin One-way trips and open-ended trips available, within and even between different cities Smartphone-based rental procedure makes usage both easy and flexible Daimler Mobility Services will soon be offering carsharing with the three-pointed star. Under the "car2go black" brand, Daimler Mobility Services GmbH will pilot a fully automated carsharing system with Mercedes-Benz vehicles. The pilot phase will begin in mid-February in Hamburg and Berlin. In the initial pilot phase, select car2go members in those locations can use a network of 200 black B-Class models on short notice. The vehicles can be rented at dedicated reserved parking stations, and do not have to be returned to the same dedicated parking station that the vehicle rental originated from.

Audi and Mercedes both outsell BMW in January

There won't be any celebrations in Munich this month, as BMW was outsold by arch-nemeses Audi and Mercedes-Benz. The Bavarian company finished behind Audi in January, which took the top spot for the first time since June of last year, Bloomberg reports. Ingolstadt rode high on a 10-percent bump in sales, while Mercedes saw a larger 14 percent increase. BMW, meanwhile, only saw a modest 6.3-percent sales increase last month, thanks in large part to its struggles in China. The company's sales there increased at about half the rate of its chief competitors, with a 7.9-percent jump to Mercedes and Audi's roughly 15-percent increases. Perhaps more worrying for BMW, though, is that this could become something of a trend for the company. According to Bloomberg, issues with Chinese dealers who cancelled orders over sales targets and bonuses combined with what the publication calls aging models, could spell bad news for the German marque. "This looks like a pretty significant decline in growth compared to Mercedes and Audi," Bankhaus Metzler analyst Juergen Pieper told Bloomberg. "I think this will continue during the next few months." News Source: BloombergImage Credit: Matthias Schrader / AP Earnings/Financials Audi BMW Mercedes-Benz

2013 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG

Make way for the 2013 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG, the most wonderfully preposterous car I have ever driven.
There is absolutely no reason why any two-seat roadster should be fitted with a twin-turbocharged 6.0-liter V12 developing 621 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque, but I sure am glad that Mercedes-Benz doesn't see things that way.
Drop into the leather-lined cockpit of this $213,145 provocateur, floor the accelerator pedal as I did over and over again, and 60 miles per hour falls in a traction-limited 3.9 seconds. Top speed has been electronically held to 186 mph (this apparently saves Gulfstream jet owners from embarrassment). Forget the SL550 and SL63 AMG, the valets will trip over themselves attending to the tycoon driving this thoroughbred - it's the real deal.