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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.

Sales start for $146,000 Mercedes-Benz S500 Plug In Hybrid

Mercedes-Benz's first production plug-in hybrid is chock full of astounding numbers, including the price tag. The base price is 108,944.50 euros, or about $146,000 US. If that didn't make your eyes glaze over, the Daimler division is ready to take your down payments now that the Mercedes-Benz S500 Plug-in Hybrid is officially on sale. Deliveries to European dealerships start in September. Details on the PHEV sedan were divulged last August and it was first shown off at last year's Frankfurt Motor Show. Benz calls it the, "first luxury saloon with the performance of a V8 and the fuel consumption of a compact model." That's no exaggeration. The car's powertrain that pairs a 3.0-liter V6 twin-turbo with an electric motor that delivers 436 horsepower and a 0-62 mile per hour acceleration time of just 5.2 seconds. Top speed is 155 miles an hour. On the green side, the car can go as far as almost 21 miles on electric power alone and gets a fuel-efficiency rating, on the more lenient European driving cycle, of 84 miles per gallon equivalent. The car also includes a so-called COMAND navigation system that tweaks how the electric motor is used based on the driver's desired route. Very high-tech. We've got Mercedes-Benz's press release below. Sales release for S 500 PLUG-IN HYBRID: First PLUG-IN HYBRID with a star starts With immediate effect the Mercedes-Benz S 500 PLUG-IN HYBRID can be ordered for prices from 108,944.50 euros[1]. The S 500 PLUG-IN HYBRID blends an ultramodern hybrid drive configuration with the unique innovations and the luxurious equipment and appointments of the S-Class. The luxury saloon with a long wheelbase impresses with unique dynamism and efficiency. Thanks to standard pre-entry climate control it also offers unique climate comfort. In September the first certified three-litre luxury saloon in the world will be arriving at the dealers - a further milestone on the road to emission-free mobility. "The new S 500 PLUG-IN HYBRID offers our customers the entire range of innovations that make our new S-Class so successful, and thanks to its intelligent operating strategy ensures outstanding driving pleasure and dynamism combined with the highest efficiency. Moreover, it allows completely emission-free driving for up to 33 km," says Ola Kallenius, Executive Vice-President for Sales at Mercedes-Benz Cars. "The S 500 PLUG-IN HYBRID is the first luxury saloon with the performance of a V8 and the fuel consumption of a compact model.

Mercedes-Benz intros long-wheelbase E-Class for China

Long-wheelbase sedans are a pretty hot commodity in China, and to keep up with the competition, Mercedes-Benz has introduced an extended version of the 2014 E-Class sedan at the Shanghai Motor Show. Audi, BMW, Volvo and even Cadillac offer extended versions of sedans specific to the Chinese market, and now the E-Class L, shown off in E400L guise, will give luxury sedan buyers in China yet another option.
Compared to the standard 2014 E-Class sedan, the new China-spec E-Class L has been stretched by 5.5 inches - all of which goes to the rear-seat passengers. According to an article on China View from earlier in the year, the market for chauffeur-driven cars is growing in the Asian nation, so automakers need long-wheelbase models like the E-Class L in order to fully compete. As for what powers this stretched E-Class, it's available in three models: the diesel E260L, the V6-powered E300L and the E400 Hybrid.
The redesigned E-Class and the all-new A-Class are just the first of 20 new Mercedes-Benz products that will be introduced into the Chinese auto market by 2015. Scroll down for the full press release on long-wheelbase E.