2011 C300 4matic Awd 17k-split Folding Rear Seat-bluetooth-satellite Radio on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2016 British Grand Prix kept mostly calm and carried on

Three bursts of chaos decided the course of the British Grand Prix. The first was a literal cloudburst a dozen minutes before the race, which poured water on the Silverstone Circuit while drivers sat on the grid. Six minutes before the lights-out, the race director decided to start the race behind the Safety Car. The field loped around the wet track for five laps. When the Safety Car pulled off, the three leaders – Mercedes-AMG Petronas' Lewis Hamilton, followed by teammate Nico Rosberg and Red Bull's Max Verstappen – stayed out. Behind them, the second chaotic moment occurred: a big group of drivers made pit stops for intermediate tires. When Manor's Pascal Wehrlein spun at Turn 1 on Lap 7, officials issued a Virtual Safety Car. With the rest of the field slowed down, the three leaders ducked into the pits on Lap 8 for intermediates. The fortuitous timing meant all three drivers rejoined the track in their original positions. By Lap 9, with racing resumed, Hamilton had a 4.9-second lead on Rosberg. From that point, even as the track dried, no one bothered Hamilton during what one commentator called "a measured drive." The Brit won his home grand prix, taking the checkered flag seven seconds ahead of Rosberg. Rosberg had to earn second place on track. The German's car didn't respond well to the intermediate tires, so Verstappen excecuted an outstanding pass on Rosberg on the outside through Chapel on Lap 16. After everyone switched to slicks, Rosberg's Mercedes reclaimed its mojo and the German hunted Verstappen down, passing the Dutchman on Lap 38. The final touch of chaos happened when Rosberg's gearbox threw a tantrum on Lap 47 of the 52-lap race. Rosberg radioed his engineer, "Gearbox problem!" His engineer replied, "Affirm. Chassis default zero one. Avoid seventh gear, Nico." The race stewards allowed the engineer's first two statements, but stewards said the instruction about seventh gear contravened the rule that "the driver must drive the car alone and unaided." After the race, officials added ten seconds to Rosberg's time, demoting him to third behind Verstappen. Rosberg's is the first penalty arising from radio communication restrictions. Unsurprisingly, Mercedes will appeal. At this year's Baku race the radio controversy stemmed from engineers refusing to tell drivers what to do. Now we know what happens when the pit wall gets loose lips.

Mercedes forced to lower MPG ratings on two C300 models *UPDATE

*UPDATE: Donna Boland, manager of corporate communications at Mercedes Benz USA, told AutoblogGreen that the sticker change only applied to around 500 C-Class vehicles on dealer lots, since a new C-Class came out in late August. "About 500 are left in the United States, and we've relabeled them," she said. First Hyundai, then Ford and now Mercedes-Benz. The list of companies that have had to change their vehicles' official EPA fuel economy ratings has just grown by one with the announcement that the 2013 and 2014 C300 4-Matic FFV and PZEV versions need to have their EPA labels adjusted. The changes aren't massive, at most one mile per gallon. The changes aren't massive, at most one mile per gallon, but they are lower than before. The FFV version goes from 20 to 19 mpg in the city while the PZEV drops one mpg across the board from 23/20/29 combined/city/highway) to 22/19/28. The FFV's combined (22) and highway (27) ratings stay the same. Other Mercedes vehicles that were spot checked turned out to have accurate labels. The problem, which is reminiscent of the issues that Ford had with the Total Road Load Horsepower, was that "Mercedes underestimated the impact of aerodynamic drag and tire rolling resistance known as 'road-load,'" the EPA said in a statement you can read below. We have asked Mercedes for more information on the issue but have not yet heard back. We're not sure how many vehicles the EPA is retesting (or asking to be retested), but the agency says that the C300 models were evaluated again by Mercedes "with EPA oversight" and the EPA did its own tests at the National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory in Ann Arbor, MI. Christopher Grundler, the director of EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, said that the EPA knows that the changes are minimal, but that, "it is important that our oversight system is producing the correct results because even one MPG matters to consumers." In case you need a primer in the recent history of companies adjusting their EPA numbers, check out this and this. Based on today's news, we won't be surprised to hear more changes are coming. EPA Requires Mercedes-Benz to Correct Fuel Economy Labels for Two C300 4-Matic Vehicles WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is revising estimates for two 2013/2014 Mercedes C300 4-matic vehicles, the FFV and PZEV, to ensure consumers are given accurate fuel economy values.

How Atlanta landed Mercedes-Benz

The first phone call came last spring. An international real estate company had a high-profile client that wanted to relocate its North American headquarters. The client, whose identity was confidential, narrowed the list of prospective sites to Texas, North Carolina and Georgia. Would Georgia officials be interested in a discussion? Behind the scenes, they worked for months to lure the company, touting lower housing prices and a relaxed pace of life. They arranged interviews with CEOs of other companies in Atlanta who could speak about the area's business climate and they augmented negotiations with key executives from a utility company and Atlanta-Hartsfield Airport. Ultimately, they were also offered a reported $40 to $50 million in tax incentives. Secrecy was vital. The intermediary and officials with the Georgia Department of Economic Development gave the project a code name that changed three times throughout the summer and fall, so that only a few people had access to the most basic information. It was called Operation Eagle. It was only in September that the Georgia officials learned the identity of the client, Mercedes-Benz, and only last week that Operation Eagle bore fruit when the company publicly announced it would relocate its North American headquarters from Montvale, NJ, to the north side of Atlanta. "They put themselves in a spot on the north side where millennials can live in the city, and people can live in the northern suburbs and raise a family," Tom Croteau, deputy commissioner of global commerce for the GDED, tells Autoblog. "And when you combine that with the business aspect of a lower-cost environment, that's what we were able to provide them, along with a long-term commitment to support them however we can." In the move, the company benefits from a location that's closer to a growing base of suppliers that work with German car companies in the Southeast, as well as closer proximity to ports in Brunswick, GA, that are some of the busiest in the country. Mercedes-Benz will bring 800 to 1,000 jobs to the area. In addition to the employment, Georgia benefits from another notch in its automotive belt. Atlanta is already home to Porsche's North American headquarters. Kia Motors has a major manufacturing facility in West Point, GA, and General Motors opened an information technology center in Atlanta two years ago that employs roughly 1,000 workers.