German carmaker Daimler AG dismissed market talk on Tuesday it could divest its Maybach super luxury brand, after Chinese media reported that a Chinese firm was considering buying the brand. The Guangzhou Daily and other local media said on Monday that Chinese car and battery maker BYD was weighing the possibility of taking over Maybach from Daimler and that it would make a move once the brand was put up for sale. "Maybach is an important part of Daimler's product portfolio. There is no other decision," a Daimler spokesman said. Daimler sold just 200 units of the Maybach brand last year, a fraction of the volumes that BMW's Rolls-Royce or Volkswagen's Bentley manage. Paul Lin, a spokesman at BYD in the southern Chinese boomtown of Shenzhen, where the firm is based, also denied the reports. "It's not true, it's market speculation. We got calls from the media and we have checked with Chairman Wang," Lin ...

Japan's Nissan is in talks with Germany's Daimler to procure large engines and co-operate on the development of green cars, a report said this week. The three automakers hope to agree the tripartite alliance by early April, the Nikkei business daily and Kyodo news agency said. On Thursday the Financial Times said Renault, which holds a 44.3 per cent stake in Nissan, and Daimler were close to finalising a two-way alliance in which each would hold a three per cent stake in the other. Neither Renault nor Daimler is speaking publicly about the talks, and Renault declined on Friday to comment on European press reports that its board would take up the matter at a meeting April 6. But both Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co., and Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche have been studying the merits of potential partnerships. Renault, which has a 44.3 per cent stake in Japan's third-largest ...

The 2010 Mercedes-Benz R-Class is expected to make its debut at the New York Auto Show this week. The odd oval headlamps of the original R-Class (with tumors growing from their bases) have been replaced by handsome wing-shaped units and the new grille is bigger and bolder, which makes the three pointed star now look a bit small. The overall face is more angular, and there are quad fog lamps residing within the air intakes. Interior changes are expected to be more minor, with the exception of a new AMG sport option. It comes with different seats, a special steering wheel, a lighting packaged and stainless steel pedals. The R-Class’ engines are expected to be the same as those in the 2010 model: a 268-horsepower 3.5-liter V6 and a 210-horsepower 3.0-liter V6 turbodiesel. The R-Class has been a perennial low seller in the U.S., with sales of 2,825 last year, a 63.5 percent ...

Mercedes-Benz has found a silver lining to the economic recession: It's helping boost sales of its smallest sport utility vehicle in the United States. In fact, the 2010 GLK has been outselling the other Mercedes SUVs in this country in 2010. The compact GLK appeals with a starting retail price that's $11,800 lower than the previous lowest-priced and smallest Mercedes SUV, the M-Class. Less than 15 feet long from bumper to bumper, the GLK has a starting manufacturer's suggested retail price, with destination charge, of $34,775 for a two-wheel drive version and $36,775 for a model with four-wheel drive. This compares with the starting MSRP, including destination charge, of $46,575 for a rear-wheel drive Mercedes M-Class SUV. But the test GLK had a final price of more than $48,000 with a navigation system, power liftgate, garage door opener, leather seat trim, premium sound system and other goodies added in. Still, my lower leg kept hitting the ...

Daimler's Russian subsidiary has agreed to plead guilty to paying bribes to Russian government officials as part of a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department, according to a settlement filed in a federal court in Washington. The company “admits, accepts and acknowledges that it is responsible for the acts of its employees, subsidiaries and agents,” Daimler said in the 98-page agreement with prosecutors filed Wednesday. The maker of Mercedes-Benz cars and trucks conceded, in that document, that it made hundreds of improper payments to government officials in at least 22 countries to win contracts to sell hundreds of millions of dollars worth of vehicles. “In some cases, Daimler wired these improper payments to U.S. bank accounts or foreign bank accounts of U.S. shell corporations in order to transmit the bribe,” according to the agreement. The company's Russian subsidiary, Mercedes-Benz Russia SAO, agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, ...