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Trump reportedly says he wants to wipe German cars off the U.S. map

BERLIN/FRANKFURT — A report that U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to pursue German carmakers until there are no Mercedes-Benz rolling down New York's Fifth Avenue dented shares in the luxury car manufacturers on Thursday. An excerpt from German magazine Wirtschaftswoche's article, which cited several unnamed European and U.S. diplomats but did not include any direct quotes, could not be independently verified, while a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Berlin referred questions to Washington. The news and current affairs magazine said Trump had told French President Emmanuel Macron in April that he aimed to push German carmakers out of the United States altogether. Macron's administration in Paris declined to comment on the report. The Trump administration last week opened a so-called Section 232 trade investigation into vehicle imports, which could result in a 25 percent tariff on cars on the same "national security" grounds Washington used to impose metals duties in March. This could destroy exports by German carmakers, which control 90 percent of the U.S. premium market and are the biggest European Union exporters of cars to the United States. BMW owns Rolls-Royce, while Daimler has Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen controls Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche and Audi. Daimler, BMW and Audi declined comment. Porsche was not immediately available for comment. BMW shares were trading 0.5 percent lower at 0939 GMT, while Daimler and VW's shares were down 1 percent and 1.6 percent respectively, underperforming Germany's blue-chip DAX. Trump has railed against German carmakers before. And in early 2017, in an interview with German newspaper Bild, he said he would impose 35 percent tariffs on imported cars. At the time, the president called Germany a great car producer but said that the business relationship with the United States was an unfair one-way street. Germany's auto industry association VDA says its members exported 657,000 vehicles to North America last year, with total exports of vehicle components, cars, engines, as well as second-hand vehicles totaling 31.2 billion euros in 2016. Imports from the United States to Germany amounted to 7.4 billion euros, meaning a trade deficit of 23.8 billion euros the VDA's latest available figures show. However, German brands also have huge factories in the United States, where they built 804,000 cars last year, VDA said, providing jobs for U.S. workers. Berlin has reacted angrily to the U.S.

Mercedes-AMG expands V12 engine production to Mannheim

Mercedes-AMG may be downsizing some of its engines, but it hasn't given up on making V12s. In fact it has so much demand for them, and so little room to expand, that it is opening a new workshop at another location just to handle V12s. We take that as a good sign. That new location is the Daimler factory in Mannheim, in southwestern Germany, which is already dedicated to engine production and is located just an hour and a half from the Mercedes headquarters in Stuttgart and the main AMG workshop in neighboring Affalterbach. But although the assembly of its 12-cylinder engines is being moved, it will still be carried out under the "one man, one engine" philosophy that sees each motor built from start to finish by one highly skilled and specially trained AMG technician. The move will give AMG the capacity to build more of its V12 engines. But it will also make use of excess capacity at the Mannheim plant, and allow the Affalterbach site to use the space and technicians freed up by the V12 move to focus instead on V8s. Those concerned about AMG's ability to maintain its levels of quality and performance at a remote location might note that production of its turbocharged four-cylinder engines for the A45, CLA45, and GLA45 models is already carried out by MDC Power GmbH, a Daimler subsidiary in Kolleda, using the same philosophy. AMG's current 6.0-liter twin-turbo V12 engine produces a massive 621 horsepower and an even more impressive 738 pound-feet of torque. It's used in the SL65 roadster, G65 sport-ute, and S65 coupe and sedan... and maybe soon in the S65 cabrio as well. Come to think of it, a twelve-cylinder version of the new GLS seems like a good idea, too. And though Aston Martin is contracted to use AMG's eight-cylinder engines, the added capacity could get the creative juices from Gaydon flowing as well. Related Video: MERCEDES-AMG TO BUILD 12-CYLINDER ENGINES IN MANNHEIM Affalterbach. Due to strong demand for its high-performance automobiles, Mercedes-AMG is to start the assembly of its 12-cylinder engines in a new location at Daimler's site in Mannheim. The traditional AMG "one man, one engine" philosophy continues to hold true: each powerful AMG engine will be built completely by hand by just one engine fitter. The employees who currently assemble 12-cylinder engines at the AMG headquarters in Affalterbach will be shifted to the eight-cylinder engine lines.

Mercedes GLC spotted nearly nude ahead of tomorrow's reveal

Mercedes is set to officially take the wraps off its new GLC-Class crossover tomorrow, but if you can't wait that long, here it is all but completely undisguised. The GLC, for those just joining us, is the replacement for the GLK, rounder and renamed to align more closely with the C-Class. It was previewed as a slant-roofed concept in Shanghai, but as you can see, it'll reach production with a more conventional greenhouse. Rooflines (and various show-car details) aside, the production GLC looks pretty close to the aforementioned Concept GLC Coupe. Certain elements on this pre-production unit still remain taped up to keep from our prying eyes – though the engineer driving it doesn't seem to mind. We can at least hope that rather ungainly looking chrome lower rear bumper element is just there to throw us off, or will look more convincing as part of a complete package. But we'll be finding out one way or another tomorrow... so watch this space. Related Video: