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McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari call for unfreezing F1 engines

Formula One is a hugely expensive sport. Not only do you have enormous salaries and logistical expenses, as you would in any other sport, but each team also spends huge sums developing their own chassis from the ground up – and so too do the participating automakers in developing the engines. One of the ways the series organizers mitigate those costs is by freezing development. So once the new crop of V6 turbo hybrid powertrains were developed, that was it. But now three of the of the sport's leading teams are calling on the FIA to unfreeze engine development. Their reason? Unfair advantage. There's little question that Mercedes did the best job of developing its "power unit" to meet the new regulations that took effect at the beginning of this past season. That's how the Mercedes team won all but three of the grands prix this season and finished with at least one car on the podium at every single race. It's also a big part of how the teams that bought their engines from Mercedes this season managed to consistently outperform the other non-works-supported teams. That clear advantage is why Red Bull, Ferrari and now McLaren are calling for engine development to be unfrozen. Their argument is that, under the current locked-down status quo, their engine suppliers (Renault, Ferrari and Honda, respectively) cannot possibly catch up. So unless the FIA and Formula One Management want the next few seasons to be the kind of absolute blow-outs that this past season was, these leading teams argue, the powers that be are going to have to make some changes. For its part, Mercedes naturally counters that unfreezing engine development would send costs spiraling out of control. But then of course it stands to lose the most by re-opening engine development. If those three teams, however, closely intertwined as they are with the three other engine suppliers participating in next year's championship, manage to solicit enough support from the other customer teams and bring the matter to a vote, Mercedes may very well find itself out-numbered. News Source: ESPNImage Credit: Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Motorsports Ferrari McLaren Mercedes-Benz F1 engine

Mercedes details plans for move to Georgia

Automakers are getting restless in America, moving their headquarters from one location to another. Toyota is shifting its US operations to Dallas, Porsche is moving to a new headquarters across town, Cadillac is relocating from Detroit to New York, but lately the news has been about Mercedes. The German automaker has run its US operations out of its current facility in Montvale, NJ for decades, but now it's preparing to relocate to a new facility in Atlanta. And it has just announced further details of the move. The company is building a new facility at the corner of Abernathy and Barfield in Sandy Springs outside of Atlanta. That's right near where the Georgia 400 meets Interstate 285 near Hartsfield-Jackson airport, giving Mercedes access to an existing infrastructure of hotels, restaurants and of course transportation routes. The facility will take up a 12-acre plot of land and is earmarked for completion in early 2018. Lest you think MBUSA will stay put in Montvale in the meantime, though, it won't. The company is actually going to relocate twice, moving in the meantime to a temporary, 186,000-square-foot facility at the Perimeter Center in Dunwoody, GA. That move will kick off in July. The move detailed earlier this week at a press conference at the Georgia State Capitol with Governor Nathan Deal will see Mercedes hiring hundreds of new employees in Atlanta. Even after it moves down south, though, the company will keep certain functions in New Jersey, both in Montvale and in Robbinsville where it has its parts distribution center. MERCEDES-BENZ USA ANNOUNCES DETAILS OF NEW CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS IN ATLANTA MBUSA to occupy interim office space in Central Perimeter before opening new, state-of-the-art facility in 2018 February 03, 2015 - ATLANTA -- At a press conference today at the Georgia State Capitol, Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) announced the permanent and interim locations for its new corporate headquarters in Atlanta. Company President and CEO Stephen Cannon made the announcement with Georgia Governor Nathan Deal. MBUSA, which is currently headquartered in Montvale, New Jersey, will construct a new, state-of-the-art headquarters facility on a greenfield site located at the corner of Abernathy and Barfield roads in Sandy Springs, expected to be completed in early 2018.

Daimler: 2017 the right time to launch our hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle

Zero-emissions vehicle development has never focused purely on off-the-line acceleration. So when a research executive with Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler says it's Okay that companies like Toyota and Hyundai will have a head start selling hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, it's somewhat believable. But is Daimler really fine with being two years behind? It appears so. Daimler plans on debuting its first fuel-cell vehicle in 2017, Automotive News says, citing an interview Automobilwoche had with Daimler's corporate research chief Herbert Kohler. The German automaker estimated about a decade ago that it would be able to get fuel-cell production costs down to an "acceptable" level in 2012, but it turns out that estimate was about five years too aggressive. Daimler originally started leasing out a limited number of its F-Cell hydrogen vehicles in the US for $849 a month, though later brought that down to $599 a month. Daimler says it received a boost in its effort to accelerate fuel-cell powertrain development when it reached an agreement early last year with Nissan and Ford to work together on speeding up relevant powertrain technology. While Toyota's first fuel-cell vehicle in Japan is priced at almost $70,000 (before big government incentives kick in), Kohler says Daimler's first fuel-cell vehicle will be priced similar to a hybrid vehicle. Of course, that's a Mercedes-Benz hybrid we're talking about here, but still. Related Gallery Mercedes-Benz F-Cell View 9 Photos News Source: Automotive News - sub. req. Green Mercedes-Benz Hydrogen Cars h2