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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.

Ford and Mercedes join Renault in French emissions investigation

The French government is investigating certain models from Ford, Mercedes-Benz, and Renault because they allegedly produce more nitrogen oxide than the country's pollution rules allow, according to Automotive News, citing a French newspaper. After VW's emissions scandal, French regulators began checking more vehicles for evidence of defeat devices and excessive real-world pollution. According to Automotive News, the Mercedes S350 allegedly showed inconsistent results across these tests, and a Ford C-Max had NOx levels five times over the limit. The Renault Captur crossover, Espace, and an unnamed utility vehicle also had results that were too high. The French testing for this investigation includes an on-road emissions check that's not part of the EU's normal evaluations, which some automakers claim is unfair. "Unofficial on-road testing has varying conditions and can produce significantly different results," a Ford of Europe spokesman told Automotive News. Renault representatives met with French officials on January 18 to explain the situation. The company later submitted a plan to recall 15,800 examples of the diesel Captur, and said it would offer a voluntary software upgrade for about 700,000 other vehicles, according to Automotive News. Representatives from Ford and Mercedes will meet with the government soon, too. Renault's stock price plunged last week after investors heard that French regulators searched three of the automaker's sites as part of the emissions investigation. The stockholders feared an environmental scandal like the one currently embroiling Volkswagen. There's one major difference – as of now, there's no evidence Renault equipped any of the polluting models with defeat devices. Related Video:

Ferrari, Mercedes selling cars with faulty Takata airbags

According to the US Senate, a small group of automakers are still selling new cars with faulty Takata airbags. Automotive News reports that Ferrari's entire lineup and various Mercedes-Benz vehicles come with faulty airbags and are subject to being recalled by the end of 2018. US Senator Bill Nelson, (D-FL), claims the affected Ferrari models include: the 2016 to 2017 FF, California T, F12 Berlinetta, F12 TdF, 488 GTB, 488 Spider, and GTC4 Lusso. Mercedes-Benz is also in the mix with the 2016 Sprinter and 2016 to 2017 E-Class Coupe and Convertible. Automotive News reports that both Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz will require its dealers to notify buyers of a recall in the vehicles' future. The National Highway traffic Safety Administration claims the vehicles are legal to be sold, as the airbags are safe until exposed to high humidity for a significant period of time. With the majority of Ferrari drivers storing their vehicles in temperature-controlled garages, this shouldn't be troubling news. What is troubling, however, is that seven out of 17 automakers that Senator Nelson contacted admitted to putting defective Takata airbags into its new cars. Volkswagen, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and Toyota are a few automakers that still use Takata's faulty airbags. All have agreed to notify buyers of future recalls. Related Video: News Source: Automotive News-sub.req.Image Credit: Copyright 2015 Lorenzo Marcinno / AOL Government/Legal Recalls Ferrari Mercedes-Benz ferrari ff ferrari f12 berlinetta ferrari 488 gtb ferrari california t ferrari f12 tdf ferrari 488 spider ferrari gtc4 lusso