After almost 33 years of unbroken production, the Mercedes-Benz G-Class remains unparalleled. This was the opinion of the "Off Road" magazine readers, who voted the G-Class "Off-roader of the year 2012" in two categories – making it a repeat of last year's success for the off-road legend. The G-Class eased to victory in the "Luxury off-roader" category and defended its top spot in the "Classic" category.
The latest edition from smart has been christened sharpred. This smart fortwo is a real eye-catcher as the intense red of the tridion safety cell and door mirror housing forms a striking contrast to the rest of the exterior in black. The smart fortwo sharpred is available as a coupé (from €14,490) and as a cabrio with a 52 kW mhd petrol engine or a 62 kW petrol engine. The exciting special model can be ordered now and the first vehicles of this limited series will reach dealers in May 2012.
Active seat-belt buckle is a new innovation for the rear seats which is currently under development by safety pioneer Mercedes-Benz and will shortly go into series production in one of the Stuttgart manufacturer's luxury-segment models. An electric motor extends and retracts the seat belt buckle automatically. In this way, the belt slack in the area of the pelvis and thorax can be reduced and passengers are secured more firmly in sideways and lengthways directions.
Mercedes-Benz has started 2012 with record sales for the month of January. The brand sold a total of 86,921 units worldwide, thus exceeding the previous year’s record by another 5.1%. Sales in the Mercedes-Benz Cars division also reached a new high in January by handing over 94,526 passenger cars of the Mercedes-Benz, smart and Maybach brands to customers (+5.8%).
car2go Europe GmbH, a joint venture between car2go GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler AG, and Europcar, the leader in car rental services in Europe, launched today the car2go service in Lyon, France. car2go provides Lyon residents with a fleet of 200 low-emission, self-service smart fortwo micro compact cars.