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Daimler rebuffs Geely offer to buy stake

HONG KONG/BEIJING - Daimler AG has turned down an offer from China's Geely to take a stake of up to 5 percent via a discounted share placement, as the German automaker has long been reluctant to see existing shareholdings diluted, sources with knowledge of the talks said. A stake of that size would be worth $4.5 billion at current market prices. Although Daimler declined the offer, it told Geely it was welcome to buy shares in the open market, the sources added. Carmakers in China have embarked on a flurry of dealmaking, as they scramble to boost production of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles ahead of tough new quotas to be imposed by Beijing, which wants to reduce urban smog and lower the country's reliance on oil. People with knowledge of Geely's thinking said the company was keen to access Daimler's electric car battery technology and wanted to establish an electric car joint venture in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province. Geely, which also owns Swedish car maker Volvo, is still hopeful it can secure a deal in some form over the coming weeks, they added. The two automakers met in Beijing in recent weeks at Geely's behest. There, the Chinese firm, formally known as Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, offered to take a stake of between 3 percent and 5 percent if Daimler would issue new shares at a discount, the sources said. It was not immediately clear what kind of discount for the shares Geely had in mind or whether Geely was interested in buying the shares on the open market. A spokesman for Geely declined to comment. A spokesman for Daimler said the company was "very happy with our shareholder structure at present", but added that it would welcome new investors with a long-term interest in the company. Shares in Daimler were up 1 percent in early Wednesday trade, in line with the broader market.DAIMLER ALREADY TIED TO BAIC, BYD Geely, which has a market value of some $32 billion, is the leading domestic brand in China with a 5 percent market share, according to an analysis by Nomura Securities. A stake of 5 percent would establish it as Daimler's third-largest shareholder behind the Kuwait Investment Authority and BlackRock, who hold 6.8 percent and 6 percent respectively, according to Reuters data.

Ultra-rare Maybach 57S Coupe ordered new by Moammar Gadhafi is for sale

One of Maybach's rarest 21st-century cars is for sale in Holland, and it owes its existence to one of the most controversial African leaders in recent history. Dutch exotic car dealer Auto Leitner listed a Xenatec-built Maybach 57S Cruisero coupe ordered and customized by Colonel Moammar Gadhafi but built after his death. Short-lived German coachbuilder Xenatec chose to start with the short-wheelbase 57 rather than with the longer and more stately 62. It didn't alter the sedan's length or wheelbase; instead, it created the Cruisero by extending the front doors, removing the rear doors, and adding more rake to the roof pillars. Several other minor visual tweaks set the coupe apart from the sedan, and the interior was given a more superficial makeover. Xenatec made no mechanical modifications, so power comes from an AMG-built 6.0-liter V12 twin-turbocharged to 604 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque. It spins the rear wheels via a five-speed automatic transmission. Although the coupe weighs 6,000 pounds, it takes five seconds to reach 60 miles per hour from a stop. The 57S Coupe was not a hefeweizen-fueled hack job haphazardly welded together in a shed. It was authorized by Daimler, and it was engineered to the same standards as the regular-production car. Executives were confident that they could sell 100 units to politicians, entrepreneurs, oligarchs, and other wealthy people around the world, but Xenatec filed for bankruptcy and closed after making only eight when one its main investors, a Saudi Arabia-based company named Auto Kingdom, abruptly stopped funneling money into the project. Gadhafi configured Auto Leitner's 57S Coupe, which was the fourth one built, and he should have taken delivery of it in 2012, but the Libyan Civil War that erupted in 2011 and ultimately led to his death on October 20 of that year derailed those plans. It was instead sold to another buyer whose identity is unknown. What's certain is that the person who ended up with Gadhafi's Maybach rarely drove it: its odometer shows about 1,429 miles. Highly optioned, this 57S is equipped with 20-inch wheels, soft-close doors, heated and massaging individual rear seats separated by a fridge, rear tray tables, front and rear air conditioning systems, a rear-seat entertainment system, and, for good measure a fire extinguisher.

This or That: Mercedes S-Class 350SD vs. 2003 Jaguar XJR [w/poll]

Budget. It's a wretched word, whether you're going out to eat, shipping for a new outfit or, more relevant to today's discussion, buying a car. Massive marketing machines have convinced us, as a population, to buy the best you can afford, repercussions be damned – If you've saved up some money, spend it! All of it, on whatever it is that currently sits atop your personal Amazon wishlist, be it a Timex that takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin', a $17,000 Gold Apple Watch or a $60,000 Rolex Cosmograph Daytona. But what if the best you can afford is... say, $12,815? For that price, you can buy a brand-new 2015 Nissan Versa (including destination), assuming you're happy with zero options and a manual transmission. For that price, you'll get standard air conditioning, a CD player and... well, a warranty. Pretty sensible choice, Captain Frugal. But also ridiculously uninspired. And so that brings us to today's edition of This or That, in which two Autoblog editors pick differing sides of an argument and duke it out to see which one of us can convince you, dear reader, is better. Or at least less wrong. You be the judge. As a refresher, I'm two-and-two on these challenges, having lost the first and second editions before storming back in rounds three and four. Today, as alluded to above, we decided to throw our collective brainpower (oh lord, what have we done?) at what may be the single most difficult question currently confounding the best minds our planet has to offer: What is the best used used luxury car you can buy for the price of a 2015 Nissan Versa? Shall we meet our contenders? Allow me to introduce you to the most perfect luxury car money can buy (assuming the amount of money you're holding is equal to the amount of the cheapest new car currently sold in America, the Nissan Versa). My pick is the 1991 Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Not just any S-Class, but the legendary W126, which was produced between 1979 and 1992. And not just any W126, either, but one powered by a 3.5-liter turbodiesel engine. And with that, I send the argument to my esteemed colleague, Associate Editor Chris Bruce. Bruce: Jeremy, we had over $12,000 to budget for this challenge, and the best you can manage is a 24-year-old diesel Mercedes? I love oil-burners as much as any other auto writer with their mountains of torque and huge cruising range, but you're making this too easy on me. Also, you're really choosing a brown, diesel, German luxury sedan?