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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 spotted testing new S-Class cabrio in the snow

A fullsize luxury convertible is a rare species. There's the Bentley Continental GTC, maybe the Aston Martin DB9 or Vanquish Volante and the Maserati GranTurismo Convertible if you won't need those rear seats too often, but that's about it. The segment seems to be expanding, though, with the imminent arrival of the drop-head version of the Rolls-Royce Wraith and the new challenger you see here. Spied undergoing winter testing in Sweden, this prototype for the upcoming Mercedes-Benz S-Class Cabriolet is wearing barely any camouflage or body cladding whatsoever. In all likelihood that's largely because it's essentially the S-Class Coupe we already know, but with a folding fabric roof: Mercedes typically keeps the origami tin-tops to two-seaters like the SL and SLK. When the new S-Class cabrio is ready to launch – probably sometime between now and the summer – it'll join an expanding array of convertible Benzes that already includes the aforementioned SL and SLK and the E-Class Cabriolet, and will soon adopt the AMG GT roadster as well. Featured Gallery 2017 Mercedes-Benz S-Class Cabriolet: Spy Shots View 12 Photos Image Credit: CarPix Spy Photos Mercedes-Benz Convertible Luxury mercedes s-class cabriolet

Daimler cutting Mercedes and Smart prices by 18% in Switzerland

Automakers including Daimler and PSA are now offering substantial discounts in Switzerland to make it more affordable for Swiss customers to buy their cars, according to the latest from Bloomberg. The move, instituted by two of Europe's largest automakers, comes in response to the surprise decision last week by the Swiss National Bank to suddenly abandon its longstanding policy of capping trading of the Swiss Franc to 1.20 francs per euro. The policy has sent the value of the franc soaring, making imports into Switzerland less expensive while increasing the value of its exports. The discounts being offered by the automakers could therefore be viewed more as price adjustments to better match the changing currency value rather than an actual incentive. But whichever way you look at it, a new Mercedes or Smart will now cost Swiss buyers 18 percent less than the list price, while Peugeot and Citroen dealers in the Confoederatio Helvetica are chopping 1,000 francs ($1,144) off the price of a new passenger car or 1,500 francs ($1,716) for a new commercial vehicle. Conversely, high-end Swiss watchmakers like Rolex and Patek Philippe are looking at increasing their prices to keep up with the currency fluctuation, particularly in Japan, where the yen has dropped 17 percent against the franc in the past few days. News Source: BloombergImage Credit: Sandro Campardo/Keystone/AP Mercedes-Benz smart Car Buying Citroen Peugeot switzerland