green living, smart spending
Automotive History: How Mercedes Got its Name 125 years ago, the name of an eleven-year-old girl became the epitome of cars and the first luxury car brand in the world. On April 2, 1900, Gottlieb Daimler named the vehicles produced by his Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (Daimler Motor Company) as Mercédès, after the daughter of Daimler’s biggest customer,
Read more
The automobile was born on August 26, 1885. That is the day Gottlieb Daimler filed a patent for his ‘riding car’, the world’s first vehicle with an internal combustion engine. Dr. Carl Benz registered a patent for a similar device six months earlier, with three wheels and large enough to carry passengers. So you
Read more
Bertha Benz was the first documented woman driver, of the first documented road trip, and the first woman we would describe today as an automotive marketing pro or influencer. Her pioneering 65 mile drive on August 5, 1888 between home and her mother’s house became a media sensation and helped drive sales of her husband’s
Read more
It was a day that would change the world by setting it in motion. Happy 137th birthday to the automobile, born January 29, 1886, when German engineer Dr. Carl Benz applied for a patent on his “gas-powered vehicle”. Later the same year and independently of Benz, German engineer and tinkerer Gottlieb Daimler built his motorized
Read more
These sedans, coupes, SUVs and sports cars aren’t returning as 2024 models, killed off by slumping sales or because the manufacturer is moving to other versions, including hybrid or EV versions of the discontinued gas-powered one. Since these vehicles won’t be back in 2024, it means you can get a good buy now on the
Read more
The Ineos Grenadier is the best new SUV you probably haven’t heard of. Even so, you should consider this tough, capable and comfortable off-roader, available in North America in Fall 2023. I tested a pre-production model recently, over rocks and through mud, and was suitably impressed. The Ineos Grenadier merges the best off-road capability of
Read more
With EV sales surging, and the majority of consumers indicating that they’d consider buying an EV such as the award-winning Hyundai Ioniq 5 and blockbuster Ford F-150 Lightning, it’s wise to check incentives for EV ownership, availability of charging stations, and more. Simply, some parts of the USA are more EV-friendly than others. Yes,
Read more
Auto manufacturers are hedging their bets by launching car sharing companies around the world. It’s a good way to protect against new car sales that are up one month and down another, protectionist trade barriers, and the fickle habits of millennials. In survey after survey, they’ve indicated they would rather share than own. All car
Read more
Kia now ranks in the top ten of all automakers on the J. D. Power quality rating scale, ahead of Lexus and Mercedes-Benz. That’s quite an accomplishment, considering that when the first Kia cars arrived in North America twenty years ago, they were as reliable and well designed as the Yugo. That’s just one of
Read more
Daimler, parent company of Mercedes-Benz, is relaunching the super-luxury Maybach sedan in 2015 as a 2016 model. The company stopped manufacturing them in 2012 because there just weren’t enough sales of the $380,000 car, even to Russian oligarchs or American rap stars. Maybach sold just 3,000 cars in a decade of competing against super-luxury limo
Read more