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Mercedes-Benz starts internship program for refugees

Mercedes-Benz has started a new internship program for refugees in Germany, which offers participants work training and German language lessons over the course of fourteen weeks. Its aim is to help refugees and asylum seekers integrate into the German workforce, but not necessarily at the automaker. The "bridge intern" program is a joint effort between Daimler and the German government's Federal Employment Agency. It starts each day on the early shift at 6:00 a.m. with three and a half hours of work in areas like axle production and logistics. That's followed by another three and a half hours of language courses where they learn to converse in German in 10-person groups, which includes help with writing letters for job applications and other critical employment skills. Germany has been flooded recently with refugees and asylum seekers. Many of them have been coming in from the war zone in Syria. However the program also welcomes refugees from other Central Asian and African countries, including Afghanistan, Eritrea, Gambia, Nigeria, and Pakistan. The program is open to participants between the ages of 20 and 51. "The best way for people to integrate is at the workplace," said Michael Brecht, chairman of Daimler's General Works Council. "Doing things together creates understanding for one another. That is why we are delighted that many colleagues have expressed a willingness to mentor the 'bridge interns'." In the statement below, Brecht stresses that the internship participants "are not in competition with temporary agency workers or our core workforce. This program does not put anybody at a disadvantage." The first six weeks of the program are financed by the Federal Employment Agency, but after that, Daimler foots the bull for another eight weeks, paying the interns the standard minimum wage. The first such program has already started at the Unterurkheim plant in Stuttgart, and is set to be followed by other similar programs at additional locations. 40 refugees start 'bridge internships' at Daimler Stuttgart, Nov 09, 2015 - Participants from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Gambia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria - Fourteen-week internship in cooperation with the German Federal Employment Agency - Daimler qualifies refugees for the German labor market - Internships for several hundred more refugees are planned at other company locations Forty refugees and asylum seekers have started a so-called 'bridge internship' at Daimler.

More German automakers may be afoul of US emission standards

Volkswagen has plenty of smoke to share, and that may mean fire for other German automakers that make diesel vehicles, says Automotive News. Earlier this month, European Federation for Transport and Environment said that BMW, Daimler's Mercedes-Benz and General Motor's Opel division are among other automakers that may have equipped their vehicles' diesel engines with similar software as VW's. That software was found to reduce emissions while a car is being tested for emissions and shuts down emissions-control systems during normal use. The European environmental group used data from the International Council on Clean Transportation. Automotive News notes that the European environmental group put out its own report earlier this month, before the VW scandal broke loose, but the report was pretty much overlooked. Now, VW is under fire after it was discovered that 2.0-liter diesel engines in the VW Jetta and Golf, and Audi A3, may be programmed to game the emissions system. VW sold almost a half-million diesel vehicles in the US during the past six years. Both BMW and Mercedes-Benz told Automotive News that the issue that befell VW doesn't apply to their diesel vehicles. Earlier this week, Volkswagen admitted its car ran the sneaky software, while the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has started a probe on the company. VW is setting aside more than $7 billion to pay for the alleged violations. Meanwhile, US taxpayers may have spent as much as $51 million a year to pay for subsidies related to VW's diesel vehicle sales in 2009 alone, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Drive like a prince: Join us for a walk through Monaco's car collection

Small, crowded, and a royal pain in the trunk lid to drive into during rush hour, Monaco sounds like an improbable location for a huge car museum. And yet, this tiny city-state has been closely linked to car culture for over a century. It hosts two major racing events every year, many of its residents would qualify for a frequent shopper card if Rolls-Royce issued one, and Prince Rainier III began assembling a collection of cars in the late 1950s. He opened his collection to the public in 1993 and the museum quickly turned into a popular tourist attraction. The collection continued to grow after his death in April 2005; it moved to a new facility located right on Hercules Port in July 2022. Monaco being Monaco, you'd expect to walk into a room full of the latest, shiniest, and most powerful supercars ever to shred a tire. That's not the case: while there is no shortage of high-horsepower machines, the first cars you see after paying ˆ10 (approximately $11) to get in are pre-war models. In that era, the template for the car as we know it in 2023 hadn't been created, so an eclectic assortment of expensive and dauntingly experimental machines roamed whatever roads were available to them. One is the Leyat Helica, which was built in France in 1921 with a 1.2-liter air-cooled flat-twin sourced from the world of aviation. Fittingly, the two-cylinder spun a massive, plane-like propeller. Government vehicles get a special spot in the museum. They range from a Cadillac Series 6700 with an amusing blend of period-correct French-market yellow headlights and massive fins to a 2011 Lexus LS 600h with a custom-made transparent roof panel that was built by Belgian coachbuilder Carat Duchatelet for Prince Albert II's wedding. Here's where it all gets a little weird: you've got a 1952 Austin FX3, a Ghia-bodied 1959 Fiat 500 Jolly, a 1960 BMW Isetta, and a 1971 Lotus Seven. That has to be someone's idea of a perfect four-car garage.  One of the most significant cars in the collection lurks in the far corner of the main hall, which is located a level below the entrance. At first glance, it's a kitted-out Renault 4CV with auxiliary lights, a racing number on the front end, and a period-correct registration number issued in the Bouches-du-Rhone department of France. It doesn't look all that different than the later, unmodified 4CV parked right next to it. Here's what's special about it: this is one of the small handful of Type 1063 models built by Renault for competition.