5 Things to Check Before Your First Drive in Months

With coronavirus restrictions easing around the Philippines, you may find yourself behind the wheel once more—for essential outings, of course. But after an extended period of non-use, it pays to take these five things in mind to prevent any possible car-related headache.

#1. Kick those tires

When your vehicle isn’t used for long periods of time, the tire pressure can decrease and result in flat-spotting. Flat-spotting occurs when a tire has been stationary under the weight of a vehicle which can result in vibration issues while driving.

Before you drive off, it’s best to check your tire pressure. If you’ve pumped it above the recommended pressure, it’s time to bring it back down to the recommended level indicated in your owner’s manual. If it’s too low, it’s time to put some air in.

Pay attention to any sign of flat-spotting. If you experience a thumping noise, vibration in the steering wheel and brake pedal, it’s a good idea to schedule a service appointment to have the tires looked at.

#2. Check those fluids

While checking the tire pressure, you should also look at general fluids, including engine oil, windshield wiper, coolant, and brake fluid. Make sure to inspect under the vehicle for any signs of fluid leaks before driving off.

Oh, and keep in mind that oil change intervals are not just based on mileage, but time as well. With that, check your owner’s manual if you’ve missed any possible oil change or inspection schedule.

#3. Warm her up first

Before driving off to do your essential errand, it’s a good idea to warm up your car first. Think of this as a dry run before venturing further away from your garage.

Start the car and after a few minutes on idle, walk around your vehicle to check for any leaks, or odd sounds. Take this time to also allow your car to charge the weakened battery. If a vehicle’s battery does discharge, it may be slow to start or may not start at all. Other signs could include flickering display screens, dim interior and exterior lighting, and driving and vehicle performance concerns.

Starting a vehicle now, and knowing that there’s a potential problem is better than getting stuck on the road.

#4. Make sure your brakes don’t break

Extended period of non-usage may increase corrosion and debris that build up on your car’s brake components, especially if it was left outdoors. This can result in noise issues and, in extreme cases, premature brake wear. At times, more extensive corrosion can cause vibration or pulsation in the brake system due to brake rotor thickness variation. This usually happens when the vehicle is parked for long periods of time in humid conditions.

With that, note any concerns with brake feel or noise. You may hear squeaks, groaning, and growling noises when the brakes are applied, but this will likely diminish with driving. Other possible signs of brake issues include pulsation in the brake pedal when applied, momentary brake drag or brakes not releasing. In any case, if the brakes don’t smooth out after a few kilometers, a trip to the shop may be in order.

#5. Get re-acquainted with your car and the road

Like wearing shoes (or pants) for the first time after a few months, getting behind the wheel may feel odd for you; that’s normal. With that, this last tip is focused more on you than your car.

Before heading out on longer trips, get re-acquainted with your car, and how it behaves. If you live in a relatively quiet neighborhood, take your car for a short drive around the block to make sure you get the feel of things. That way, you’ll already be at ease before dealing with other motorists.

A Warning to Car Dealers, Brands: Do This or Die

In times of crisis, auto dealerships should lean on their aftersales service and parts sales to keep them afloat. This lesson has been learned time and time again—during the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, the Global Financial Crisis in 2007, and now it’s something that can be applied with the softening economy brought on by COVID-19.

With the Taal ash fall and COVID-19-related quarantines reducing the total selling days by around three months at best, carmakers expect to see a 20 percent decline in overall sales this year. Adding to that, financial institutions such as banks are expected to tighten consumer lending which lead to  some such as the Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors (AVID) seeing an even more worrying drop of 40 percent per their estimates.

The drastic drop in new car sales will now put pressure on auto dealerships to start beefing up, and to some extent, modernizing their aftersales service, not just cover their fixed costs such as rent and employee salaries, but to actually survive. New car sales may slow down due to economic factors, but vehicle owners will still need to keep their existing vehicles up and running. And given the extra incentive of those generous, but often draconian warranty policies that car manufacturers throw in nowadays—up to five years in some cases, it covers a time when everyone was enjoying record sales; like the year before the TRAIN Law took effect.

More than just volume, dealers also stand to earn more when they focus on aftersales service. It’s common knowledge that auto dealers earn next to nothing with new car sales (between 4 to 7 percent in most cases), but earn in double figures when it comes to service. While exact data of the Philippine setting remains a closely guarded secret, the U.S.-based National Automotive Dealers Association reports that while service, parts, and body shop operations accounted for just 12 percent of a dealership’s total sales, it accounts for 49 percent of the average dealership’s gross revenue, and 60 percent of its net profits.

All this brings an interesting challenge to how dealerships, and even to how some car manufacturers and distributors work and operate. While new car sales remain the favored child that gets all the attention, aftersales service is, ultimately, the breadwinner in the family.

Reflected in the latest J.D. Power Customer Service Index Study, Filipino buyers are increasingly dissatisfied with dealer service. Most—35 percent - have experienced longer wait times. With new car sales expected to slow down, this is the right time for dealers to make service more convenient and hassle-free.

With social distancing measures in place, dealerships should realize the maximum number of customers that can be accommodated. In this regard, the number of technicians, number of shifts, skill sets, should all be considered to optimize operations in and around the service bays. This can also help in scheduling customer appointments.

And speaking about customer appointments, dealers should start implementing or increasing online scheduling, pick-up and delivery services, and even cashless payments. This is where the future is, the pandemic has only accelerated it.

Dealer principals should also make it a point to visit their service operations to make sure it’s operating running as well as it should—and also to be on the lookout for shortcomings. It is important to know that promises to customers are being kept.

In addition, dealers should take this opportunity to increase their investment in equipment. Not only will this advanced technological equipment reduce the number of people occupying a service bay, they can also improve the efficiency and turnaround of service bays.

If survival through service and parts doesn’t sound enticing enough for dealers, the Service Industry Study from U.S.-based Cox Automotive points out that car buyers who went in for service at a dealer after making a purchase were more than twice as likely to purchase their next vehicle from the same dealership. This is compared to just 35 percent of those who got their vehicle serviced elsewhere.

The coronavirus pandemic has shined a light on the people who often go through everyday life in the shadows, invisible and unrecognized. This includes the grocery store clerks and cashiers, the parcel delivery drivers, and health care workers.

At a dealership, these unsung heroes would include the service advisers, the parts runners, and the technicians. The fate of many dealerships now rests on the shoulders of these people, who often are overlooked and overshadowed by sales and the front of the store. Service is the backbone of an auto dealership; it’s not the back end.

How Suzuki's Yaramaika Spirit Led to Japan's First Front-Wheel Drive Car

This year marks Suzuki’s 100th anniversary with Michio Suzuki having first started in business in March 1920 with the manufacture of textile looms. These became more advanced and very popular right through to the early 1950s when there was a global decline in the cotton industry.

Surprisingly, initial development of Suzuki’s first car began as far back as 1937, although this had to be shelved later with the outbreak of the second World War. Research and development finally resumed in 1954 when Suzuki Motor Co Limited was formed.

Using Suzuki’s “Yaramaika” spirit, (translated as “Let’s do it”) which was deep in the root of the Enshu region where Suzuki originated together with his determination to drive forward, Michio quickly began researching vehicles produced overseas and gained a wealth of knowledge to build the first Suzuki car, known as the Suzulight.

The Suzulight was a compact vehicle weighing just over 500 kilograms and powered by a 360-cc, 15 horsepower two-cylinder, two-stroke engine—the first of its type to ever be fitted to a car. It was also the first car in Japan to feature a front-engine, front-wheel drive layout.

The Suzulight easily met the Japanese “Keijidosha” or Kei light car legislation and Suzuki and his team quickly began their first development road testing of it.

As a prototype, its most memorable early drive was a 300-kilometer trip across the Hakone mountainous region between Hamamatsu and Tokyo which proved challenging on roads that had not yet been paved. Although arriving very late in the evening, the team arrived to present the car to the President of Yanase Auto Japan’s leading authority on Automobiles.

The President had stayed on late to greet the team and made his way out to thoroughly test the car. Several hours later he returned very impressed and immediately gave Suzuki full approval to put the Suzulight into production. It was way ahead of its time with independent coil spring suspension and rack and pinion steering.

Production commenced in October 1955 with initial production of 3-4 cars per month but by early 1956 monthly volume had climbed to 30 units.

In 1959, design changed with the development of the Suzulight TL model and popularity of Suzuki cars quickly grew. The TL gained high acclaim thanks to its superior interior and storage space within its very compact size. The engine remained as a two-stroke, air cooled 360cc unit but with an increase in power to 21 horsepower.

Suzuki experienced a rapid rise in production of mini vehicles thanks to the TL. In December 1959, just three months after its launch it had already reached the monthly production goal of 200 units which climbed very sharply in 1960 to a total of 5,824 units.

65 years since delivery of its first car, Suzuki remains globally renowned as the “small car experts” and produces three million units per year. Michio Suzuki’s original strategy of the design and production of lightweight vehicles lives on with the HEARTECT platform which underpins most of its line-up from the S-Presso all the way to the 7-seater XL7.

Mazda Uses Recycled, Bio Plastics for Their Cars

As a global society, people have become more aware of their impact on the environment, and the need to create a sustainable future through developing products that contribute towards the reduction of emissions and materials that have an adverse effect on the environment. In response to this, Mazda has been at the forefront of plastic recycling for over three decades, and was the first automotive manufacturer to recycle bumpers from end-of-life cars.

Since 1992 Mazda has recycled approximately 1,280,000 bumpers from Japanese market cars alone, a quantity that if laid end-to-end would stretch from London to Moscow.

Mazda’s research into plastic recycling has been ongoing since the late 1980’s. Recognizing the environmental need to recycle plastic, Mazda was the first automotive manufacturer to recycle used bumpers in 1992, initially these bumpers were used to produce pens and plastic automotive parts that were unseen, such as under trays.

The problem with end-of-life vehicles was many of the bumpers were more than ten years old making it technically and financially difficult as they varied in terms of paint adhesive properties and composition of their plastic. One of the biggest barriers to recycling old bumpers was the inefficient paint removal process. By 2001 Mazda had improved the paint removal process sufficiently to allow the use of the plastic to reinforce new bumpers, and by 2007 had refined the process to remove 99.9 percent of the paint, leading the way to develop a process to use the recycled plastic in the manufacture of new bumpers.

As a result, by 2011 Mazda had developed their world-first recycling technology sufficiently to allow end-of-life bumpers to be converted into plastic resin which was of sufficient quality for use in new car bumpers, first used on the Mazda Biante minivan. Recycled plastic is now used extensively in all new Mazda cars.

In its first EV, the MX-30, Mazda took a step further. The upper section of the MX-30 door interior panel is trimmed in a reprocessed fabric made from recycled PET bottles. Development of a new method for integrated molding of textile and plastic fibers made it possible to create a material with a soft touch that can be processed easily.

But it’s not just plastic recycling where Mazda is leading the industry, Mazda has also developed an industry leading high-quality bio-plastic, first seen on the 2015 MX-5. The bio-based engineering plastic made from plant-derived materials, reduces the use of petroleum resources and carbon dioxide emissions. Waste plant material, such as wood shavings and plant material, is turned into ethanol which is then converted into ethylene and polypropylene. This process is carbon neutral and, unlike alternative materials made from soy or cornstarch and does not remove food resource. Bioplastics feature a higher quality finish than traditional painted plastics and can be used for both interior and exterior use. Aside from the MX-5, it’s now used on the CX-5, Mazda2, Mazda3, and CX-30.

In order to help preserve the planet’s resources it is the responsibility of businesses to provide products and services that benefit the earth and society and Mazda continues to be at the forefront of developing environmentally friendly and recycled plastics for future product, reducing the use of fossil fuels and emissions as part of its Sustainable Zoom Zoom 2030 plan. Launched in 2017, the plan embodies the corporate vision of brightening people’s lives through car ownership and offering cars that are sustainable with the earth and society to more people and is a road map for Mazda to develop technologies that will help resolve issues faced by the earth, society, and people.

Surprisingly, EVs are Easy to Care For Even During Long-Term Storage

Proper car care during this quarantine period for both traditional and hybrid electric vehicles is well-documented given that they’ve been around for quite some time. But what about battery electric vehicles? The imposed quarantine measures seen around the world due to COVID-19 will be the first test of how battery-powered vehicles will cope with long periods of non-use.

Ford’s “battery expert,” Bob Taenaka, senior technical leader, Battery and Cell System Development weighs in on how the battery reacts if EVs aren’t used or charged regularly.

Taenaka says, the most important thing is to make sure that the 12-volt battery (yes, EVs still have the traditional lead-acid battery) stays charged, and that the high-voltage battery has adequate charge—10 percent or more—to prevent it from potentially draining to zero percent.

If an EV has been plugged in or driven for at least 8 hours in a month, the 12-volt battery should be adequately charged.

For the larger traction battery, Taenaka recommends keeping it at a state of charge between 10 percent and 80 percent.

A high-voltage battery above 10 percent state of charge can go for more than six months without charging, but the 12-volt battery will drain much faster, especially when connected to the vehicle.

If there are no plans to drive the EV for longer than 30 days, it’s best to disconnect the negative terminal of the 12-volt battery. If the EV or plug-in hybrid can be plugged in, keeping it charged will also charge the 12-volt battery. If no charger is available, a 12-volt battery charger like those from CTEK can be used to keep it topped up.

From "Great Little Car" to World Car Design of the Year

Launched in January 1977, the original Mazda 323 was Mazda’s first modern hatchback and the car that started a model lineage that stretches all the way to today’s Mazda3. A rear-wheel drive compact family car, the smartly styled first-generation 323 was a global success for Mazda. Sales continued until 1980 when it was replaced by the second-generation 323, which was Mazda’s first front-wheel drive, front-engine compact hatchback.

However, called the Mazda Familia in Japan and the Mazda GLC (for Great Little Car) in North America, the original Mazda 323 was a seminal car for Mazda. The hatchback was offered with a choice of three or five-door bodies, while a station wagon/estate version was introduced in 1978.

Over 890,000 examples were sold in three years of full production and in 1979 it underwent an update where its round headlamps were replaced with square headlights, while other changes included the introduction of a five-speed gearbox.

The rear-driven 323 featured disc front brakes with drums on the rear and, as was common in the seventies, recirculating ball steering. With no power-assistance, even with the small by modern standards 13-inch wheels, low-speed maneuvering required some physical input.

However, while its hatchback body style was still not that common, the original rear-wheel drive 323 was a pioneer that came along just as the late seventies and early eighties saw a boom in hatchback popularity, especially in Europe; a popularity that continues to this day. Forty two years since its launch, the original Mazda 323 is recognized as an innovator that started a long and successful lineage of 323 and Mazda3 compact hatchbacks that have played a big part in Mazda’s success, all the way to today’s World Car Design of the Year winning Mazda3,and its ground-breaking Skyactiv-X engine.

Mazda Celebrates 100 Years of Breaking Records

From Hiroshima cork producer to global car manufacturer, 2020 sees Mazda celebrate a century of innovation, pioneering design, and engineering success. One hundred years of business that has also seen a fair share of records achieved by Mazda over the course of its storied history.

Even Mazda’s first passenger car created a record-breaking sales impression when it was launched in 1960. Arriving just as the Sixties economic boom saw the Japanese public embracing car ownership, the Mazda R360’s arrival on the Japanese ‘Kei Car’ micro car marketplace was a huge success with charming 2+2 coupe capturing 65 percent share of Japan’s flourishing microcar segment in 1960, which accounted for 15 percent of the entire Japanese car market.

By 1963 Mazda’s cumulative global production reached one million vehicles, while by 1972 it was five million units. As global sales grew through the 70s and 80s, it was a car launched at the end of Mazda’s third decade of car production that would claim countless sales records across the world—an amazing achievement for a car launched into an automotive sector other manufacturers had abandoned. However, Mazda’s defy convention approach saw it rekindle the affordable rear-wheel drive sportscar, and inspired by the classic British roadsters of the previous decades, the Mazda MX-5 arrived at the 1989 Chicago Motor Show and was an instant sales success.

From its launch in 1989 until today, across four-generations, the Mazda MX-5 has remained one of the world’s most loved drivers’ cars, and in the year 2000 with 532,000 global sales, Mazda’s most famous sports car was official recognized by the Guinness World Record body as the world’s best-selling two-seater roadster, a title it has retained to this day. By 2016 the 1-millionth MX-5, rolled off the assembly line at Ujina Plant No. 1 in Hiroshima and the Soul Red soft-top then embarked on a world tour during which it would collect the signatures of around 200,000 fans.

Even better, MX-5 owners and fans gained their own Guinness World Record when in 2013 a parade of 683 MX-5s in Lelystad in the Netherlands set the record for the largest parade of Mazda cars, while in 2014 American Mazda fans broke the world record for most MX-5s at any single event as 1,934 roadsters from across North America attended a car show at the Mazda Raceway in Salinas, California.

While last year to celebrate the MX-5s 30th birthday, a first-generation MX-5 broke the record for the most hairpin turns covered in 12 hours. The 2,900 curves, taken during a rainy night on the Kaunertal Glacier Road in the Austrian Alps, were more than double the previous RID Rekord Institute for Germany best mark.

However, it isn’t just the popularity of the Mazda MX-5 that’s marked out in sales records, Mazda’s development of the rotary engine set it apart from the rest of the rest of the automotive industry. Launched in 1967, the Mazda Cosmo was the firm’s first production rotary-engined car and by 1986 total Mazda production of rotary powered vehicles had reached 1.5 million, setting records for manufacturing this unique type of engine.

Mazda’s famous rotary also helped the Japanese firm to a host of its speed and competition records: from powering a Mazda RX-7 to become the first Japanese car to win the Spa 24 Hour Race in 1981 to achieving more than 100 class victories in IMSA sportscar racing in the US, the rotary engine ticked off the records, even before it’s most famous achievement: when in 1991 the Mazda 787B took victory in the Le Mans 24 Hour race, making Mazda the first Japanese manufacturer to win the world’s most famous endurance race.

Away from the racetrack the rotary powered Mazda RX-7 claimed further record for Mazda, when in 1986 an RX-7 set a Bonneville Salt Flats Speed Trial record of 238.442mph – breaking the SCTA’s Grand Touring Class record, while in 1995 a modified third-generation RX-7 broke another land speed record at Bonneville, managing 389km/h. And it wasn’t just in the USA that rotary powered Mazdas set records, as in 2004 the RX-8 picked up where its predecessor left off, setting 40 international FIA records on the high-speed oval at the Papenburg automotive testing facility in northwest Germany, even more impressively unlike the modified Bonneville cars, the RX-8 records where achieved by production cars.

Further production car FIA records where achieved in 2014 when the Mazda6 demonstrated the potency of Mazda’s Skyactiv-D diesel engine, by shattering the previous record for highest average speed over 24 hours (221.1km/h vs. 209.8km/h) as well as numerous other FIA records for 2.0 to 2.5 liter turbodiesels.

By 2018 another production milestone was reached with the 50 millionth Japanese-built Mazda and more production landmarks are inevitable as Mazda sets its sights on increasing annual global capacity to 2 million units by 2024. And Mazda’s passion for setting records and defying convention continued when, to highlight the on-ice capabilities of the AWD version of its popular CX-5, Mazda became the first manufacturer to cross the frozen Lake Baikal, the world’s oldest and deepest lake, with production cars.

And finally as Mazda looks the next century of records and to the future of sustainable vehicles, in 2019 it launched the world’s first commercially available compression-ignition petrol engine—Skyactiv-X. Combining the outstanding real-world fuel efficiency of a diesel with the smooth, free-revving nature and responsiveness of a Skyactiv-G petrol powerplant, it’s offered in both the Mazda3 and the Mazda CX-30.

How a Global Design Team Resulted in the Geely Coolray Becoming a World-Class Car

To create a world-class car, you need a team that knows the world. With the Coolray, the result is a global collaboration between teams of designers and engineers.

With studios in Shanghai, Sweden, California, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom, Geely Design alone has nearly 1,000 designers and support staff spread over the globe. “Our design studio is like the United Nations – we have over 21 nationalities, and on a daily basis at our Shanghai studio, I hear Malay, Chinese, Swedish, French, German, and of course English conversations,” says Guy Burgoyne, Head of Geely Design China.

From such a global pool of talent emerges a car that embodies and symbolizes the energy and charisma of its target audience: globally-orientated youth and young families. “They appreciate design; they want design to be a focal point of their daily lives, and they want the car they drive to be an extension of their personality. What they don’t want, but what they’ve had to settle for so far, are bland, uninspired blobs on wheels with nondescript grey or black interiors”, says Jamie Barrett, Lead Exterior Designer for the Coolray.

The Coolray’s personality exudes fun and confidence, yet at the same time is exciting and mature; it balances performance with safety. All these facets are embodied in the exterior design. Although clearly part of the family, the Coolray has its own personality and will not be mistaken for another family member. “We aim for our cars to have different themes based on a core style,” says Jamie.

Take Geely’s iconic Cosmos Grille for example – on the Coolray the rings are wider and deeper, and create a wide mask containing the grille and lights. Meanwhile, the lower bumpers have been sculpted to pass air around the car thereby improving fuel economy. “The front is sculpted to have bold volumes that give off a strong 3D effect. The hood features a strong power bulge that narrows towards the front, focusing in on the Geely badge. The surfaces and curves feel rich and premium to give off a quality feel,” Jamie explains.

The satin chrome wing leads the eye over the car’s powerful front haunches expanding into the side profile before rising into the D-pillar. Boosting the Coolray’s sporting credentials are the carbon fiber elements on the front and rear bumpers, along with the rims, which together give the car its sporty stance and fun road presence.

The low-slung silhouette and speeding hood have been built to give the car its presence. Many of the elements of the design are inspired by the world of aviation. Where the roof shoots down at the rear it appears to be suspended over the D-pillar.

“This is inspired by aircraft wing stabilizers, to simulate cutting through the air with precision and create a floating sensation,” says Jamie. The aero-inspired spoiler and jet thruster-like twin exhausts build on this theme and help give the Coolray its playful, sporty feeling.

Inside, the aviation theme continues right down to the two side air vents, again inspired by jet engines. As Mei Song, Interior Designer of the Coolray mention, “The layout of the driving area adopts the design style of a cockpit, expressed in a lighter and more dynamic way, bringing sheer driving pleasure to the driver.”

The first thing many people will notice is the 10.25-inch floating control panel, which gives a vibrant feeling to the interior. However, countless more design nuances contribute to the car’s interior experience. Mei Song continues, “The expansive cabin space was created using seamless layered architecture. For example, the horizontal theme extends from the instrument panel all the way to the door panel, making the visual look wider.”

The visual cues and details add to the overall aesthetics. During the daytime, decorative dashboard panels display an orbiting planet-inspired pattern. As night rolls around, this switches to an echoing pattern which features a resemblance to the expanding front Cosmos Grille.

Adding to the sporting vibe is the red dashboard and accenting on the seats and door inserts. This, however, is not any old red – much thought has been put into the hue and its effect on the driver. “The red color used in the interior is optimized with the right levels of saturation and hue, just like the color of a vintage red wine. This gives an overall stylish and stimulating look and feel while avoiding the usual visual fatigue caused by bright red that can also affect driving safety,” says Mei Song.

Rounding out the fighter plane like cockpit is the ergonomic jet throttle-inspired shifter. Just like in a real fighter jet, this sends commands rapidly down a wire to the 7-speed dual clutch unit rather than by a mechanical connection.

8 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Mercedes-AMG

Fifty-three years ago, three letters came together to become synonymous with the ultimate in Mercedes-Benz driving performance: AMG. Those letters, and the company it represents today is world-renowned for supreme automotive performance, exclusivity, and highly dynamic driving pleasure.

Although its strong reputation inspires admiration and desire among many, AMG has a storied history full of surprises, lesser-known innovations and superlative, exclusive sports cars.

#1. AMG stands for Aufrecht, Melcher, Großaspach, the last names of its founding fathers Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher, along with Aufrecht’s birthplace of Großaspach. The names behind these three letters were the starting point for the rapid development of AMG from a two-man home- based operation to an unparalleled global performance brand.

#2. The first vehicle associated with AMG started its life as a subdued four-door sedan. The car that eventually became renowned as the iconic “Red Pig” racing car, which helped build AMG’s credentials as a motorsports powerhouse, started its life as a Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3 four-door sedan. After Aufrecht and Melcher extensively modified the car, including increasing the engine’s displacement to 6.8 liters, the finished vehicle produced 428 horsepower and 607 Nm of torque, a huge improvement from the stock output of 247 horsepower and 500 Nm of torque. The duo also lightened the car extensively; although it was still likely the heaviest car on the grid at its racing debut in the 1971 24 hours of Spa, in which it secured a class win and second place overall result, immediately connecting the letters AMG with motorsports success.

#3. The first jointly developed high-performance vehicle from AMG and Mercedes-Benz was the C 36 AMG. By 1998, the partnership between AMG and Mercedes-Benz solidified further when Daimler acquired a majority stake of AMG, setting the stage for a variety of high-performance Mercedes-Benz AMG vehicles.

#4. For those that desire the ultimate in AMG performance, few models can match the rare AMG Black Series models. One can think of the Black Series as AMG’s most extroverted, most track-focused and most exclusive, limited production models. Black Series models further enhance AMG’s already exceptional performance models by modifying their powertrain, chassis and aerodynamics to optimize track performance and dynamic capabilities. Thus far, only five special models have worn the distinctive AMG Black Series badge. These include the CLK 63 Black Series, the C 63 Black Series, the SL 65 Black Series, the SLS Black Series, and the SLK 55 Black Series (which was not sold in the USA). However, the exclusive Black Series family will grow soon with the addition of the forthcoming GT Black Series, set to make its debut later this year.

#5. The striking SLS AMG was the first-ever car designed and developed from the ground up fully by Mercedes-AMG, followed by the AMG GT 2-door sports car in 2015, and most recently the AMG GT 4-Door Coupe in 2019. The iconic SLS AMG featured vertically opening “gullwing” doors, inspired by the iconic original Mercedes-Benz 300 SL “gullwing” (produced from 1954 – 1957). These unique doors accommodated its lightweight alloy-tube frame, which extended higher than a standard frame, thus leading to these innovative vertically opening doors. In the SLS AMG, these iconic gullwing doors were paired with an unusual safety feature -- two explosive capsules, capable of blowing the doors off for quick egress, in the unlikely event that the vehicle were to be flipped on its roof.

#6. All handcrafted AMG models are built according to the “One man, one engine” philosophy, an ironclad commitment to quality, in which one master craftsman assembles each AMG handcrafted engine from start to finish. This quality construction is honored by each builder via a special plaque, signed by the individual that assembled it and placed on the handcrafted engine upon completion.

#7. Today, Mercedes-AMG is headquartered in Affalterbach, Germany, a small town northeast of Stuttgart in the state of Baden-Wüttemberg. Affalterbach is home to the management, administration, sales, development and design teams of AMG, as well as the building of AMG hand- crafted engines. Mercedes-AMG now employs approximately 1,800 people—quite the contrast from its humble beginnings as a two-man operation at Hans Werner Aufrecht’s house in Großaspach.

#8. The Mercedes-AMG ONE hypercar is set to become the most powerful AMG vehicle ever produced—capable of producing more than 1,000 hp and reaching top speeds beyond 217 mph. For the first time, this two-seater hypercar will bring the very latest and most efficient, fully-fledged Formula 1 hybrid technology directly from the racetrack to the road, delivering the ultimate in Driving Performance for years to come.