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Zetsche's CEO tenure extended through 2016 at Daimler

There appear to be two takes on Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche having his contract extended for three more years, to 2016. A report in The Detroit News quotes the chairman of Daimler's supervisory board, Manfred Bischoff, talking up the stability at the top, "With today's extensions of the contracts of Dieter Zetsche and Thomas Weber, we are maintaining the important continuity at the top executive level." Bischoff also stated that that Zetsche has a plan to "further enhance Daimler's overall performance."
Over at Reuters, though, the three-year extension was seen as a lack of complete confidence in Zetsche's plans, since his contract was supposedly meant to be extended by five years. A spokesman said the board decided to extend executive contracts by only three years if the person was 60 or would turn 60 during the contract, but that was news to observers. Zetsche wants to make Mercedes-Benz the top selling luxury manufacturer globally by 2020, but has fallen to third place behind Audi and BMW. It hasn't held the top spot 2005, and investors judged it valued at half that of BMW at the end of 2012 once Daimler's truck business was subtracted.
Analysts cites the fact that Daimler stock hasn't bested its rivals but twice in twelve years, and that the company revised its profit target downward last year by nearly one billion euros, warning of stagnant earnings this year and will miss its original margin target for 2013.

Mercedes CLA45 AMG Racing is ready for a spot on the grid

Mercedes-Benz trotted out its CLA45 AMG-based racer at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show. We first showed you the sedan in the deluge of news and reveals that precedes most good auto shows, and were blown away by the car, formally known as the CLA45 AMG Racing Series.
We were strolling by the Mercedes stand, and figured we'd pop in and take a look at the new racer and its carbon-fiber body panels, gutted interior, and race-sourced aero parts. It's a looker, both as a road car and a track weapon. It's not clear what series the CLA45 AMG will qualify for, although it does seem like a shoe-in for the World Touring Car Championship. Let us know what you think of the CLA racer down in the comments. In the meantime, we've got a full gallery of live images up top, along with the stock images that were posted last week on the Mercedes-Benz Facebook page.

Mercedes-AMG GT and C63 to serve as F1 safety, medical cars

Mercedes has spent nearly 20 years providing the safety and medical cars for Formula 1, so it was hardly a shock when the company announced that the new Mercedes-AMG GT and C63 AMG S Estate would serve as ushers in the F1 circus. The two turbocharged monsters replace the old SLS AMG safety car and C63 AMG wagon medical car, which have served in one trim or another since 2010 and 2008, respectively. The biggest change for either car is, of course, the lightbar. It's been mounted atop a carbon-fiber hoop on the AMG GT that Mercedes says optimizes airflow to that big rear wing. Meanwhile, the location of the lights was confirmed via wind tunnel testing. In the cockpit, two iPads allow the AMG GT's passenger, fuel analyst Peter Tibbetts, to monitor the race's world feed while also keeping an eye on race data. The tablets stay connected via an in-car, wireless internet connection. Changes for the C63 S wagon are less extensive. It gets a lightbar and the usual signaling systems in the headlights and taillights, while the cargo compartment includes both a respirator and a defibrillator, to manage more serious medical emergencies. As with the AMG GT, the C63 is finished in F1's traditional silver safety/medical car livery. Beyond these changes, both vehicles are just as potent as those that can be purchased at dealers. Both cars feature a 4.0-liter, 510-horsepower, twin-turbocharged V8, while a seven-speed AMG Speedshift transmission dispatches the grunt with lightning-quick shifts. So equipped, the AMG GT will hit 60 in 3.8 seconds and the C63 can get there in 4.1 seconds. Check out the full gallery of both cars, decked out in their F1 liveries, available up top. Related Video: Mercedes-AMG GT S and C 63 S in action for the 2015 Formula 1® season: Maximum safety, maximum performance Affalterbach, Mar 06, 2015 Baptism of fire on the race track: The GT S and the C 63 S – the new high-performance cars from Mercedes-AMG - provide for maximum safety in the 2015 FIA Formula One World Championship™. At the first Grand Prix in Melbourne, Australia (12 to 15 March 2015) the GT S will debut on the race track as the Official Safety Car of the FIA Formula One World Championship™. As the Official Medical Car of the FIA Formula One World Championship™, the C 63 S Estate will be on hand to provide fast emergency medical care. Mercedes-AMG has been active continuously at the pinnacle of motorsport since 1996.