Curt’s Newsletter August 2005

Curt’s Newsletter

August 2005

No part of this newsletter may be reprinted elsewhere including internet websites without written permission from the author

R-Class Makes Debut

R-Class Represents An Entirely New Way for Six Adults to Travel

Carmel, CA – Mercedes-Benz is launching a new class of vehicle and a brand new way for six adults to travel. The all-new R-Class combines the distinct advantages of several disparate vehicles – the sure-footedness of a four-wheel-drive sport utility vehicle, the performance and comfort of a fine sports sedan and the versatility of a luxury wagon. Innovative design and useful technology now make possible an automotive decathlete – a vehicle that can excel at an unprecedented range of owner needs.

Seven-Speed, Four-Wheel-Drive V6 or V8 Power

Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Pricing (MSRP) for the 2006 R-Class will begin at $48,000 for the 268-horsepower V6-powered R350 and $55,500 for the 302-horsepower V8 R500 (plus a $775 destination fee for both models). All R-Class models come with a seven-speed automatic transmission and full-time 4MATIC four-wheel drive. The basic vehicle is loaded with standard equipment such as eight-way power front seats with leather inserts, birds-eye maple interior trim, split 2nd and 3rd row seats, load-leveling suspension and rain sensing wipers.

Three Rows of Luxury

With a sharp focus on design, comfort, space and performance, the new R-Class is designed as a roomy vehicle with space for six adults – three pairs of comfortable single seats in a spacious interior. The new R-Class is about 14 inches longer than the M-Class sport utility. With an optional panoramic sunroof, the new R-Class provides an unprecedented sense of interior space.

Create Your Own Environment

The R-Class allows its occupants to create their own sense of space with features such as individual reading lights, armrests, air vents and cup holders as well as seat adjustments for each seat and separate-source audio plugs for the 1st and 2nd rows. This individualization is further enhanced with options such as an iPod integration kit or dual-screen video entertainment system.

And, everybody has a window seat. The front row of the new R-Class can be compared to first-class seating, with business-class seating in the 2nd and 3rd rows. Add the optional panoramic sunroof, and the overall sense of interior space in the new R-Class is unprecedented.

The R-Class is an inch longer than the flagship S-Class sedan. As an indicator of comfort and roominess, cabin space in the new R-Class represents 65 percent of its total volume, and there are up to 40 inches between the first and second seat rows, with more than 30 inches between the second and third rows. With 2nd and 3rd-row seats down, the R-Class boasts 85.0 cubic feet of cargo room.

The R-Class cockpit features a four-spoke multifunction steering wheel with brushed aluminum accents on the lower spokes. The instrument binnacle is designed with large chronometer gauges, and the center console houses climate control and a modular COMAND unit that integrates audio with the optional navigation and telephone.

It’s a Concert Hall, Too

The standard R-Class audio system uses eight speakers, and an optional surround-sound system features eleven speakers, including an extra sub-woofer. The audio system includes AM/FM/weatherband radio and a single-slot CD as well as optional satellite radio. A six-disc CD changer in the glove box (optional on the R350, standard on the R500) includes an auxiliary plug that allows MP3 devices to be played through the car’s audio system, and an optional kit allows most iPod units to connect to the car as well. iPod titles and playlists appear in the COMAND and dash displays. Separate audio plugs allow front occupants to listen to one source, while 2nd-row passengers can listen to a separate source.

Where’s the Shift Lever?

Unlike in most vehicles, there’s no shift lever dominating the center console of the new R-Class. Thanks to the latest electronic technology, a small stalk on the right side of the steering column now serves the purpose.

Selecting gears is simpler than ever — lift the stalk up for reverse, push down for drive, and push a button on the end for park. Once underway, pushing one of the Touch Shift buttons on either side of the steering wheel provides manual shifting.

Mercedes-Benz Safety

The new R-Class features unit body construction with front and rear crumple zones that help protect occupants during a collision by absorbing and dispersing crash energy. More than 60 percent of the body structure is formed from high-strength steel, and its “dual-phase” steel alloy (used in some of the most critical areas) even falls into the very-high-strength category, contributing to the protection provided by the passenger cell.

Every body panel in the new R-Class is zinc-galvanized and coated on both sides with rust-preventing zinc pigments. A six-section plastic undercladding provides protection against stones, water and dirt, eliminating the need for any conventional PVC undercoating. Substantial wheel-well cladding (1/8-inch thick) also helps protect against stones and gravel.

The new R-Class comes with two-stage adaptive front air bags, side air bags for the driver and front passenger, window curtain side air bags that span all three rows of seats, and adaptive belt tensioners and belt force limiters for all six seating positions. The R-Class also comes with a number of Mercedes-Benz active-safety innovations:

ABS anti-lock brakes, which help maintain steering control during emergency braking

ESP stability control, technology that has been shown in government studies to reduce single-car accidents by up to 67 percent! ESP senses skids, then reacts in a split-second to help restore control by applying the brakes on one or more wheels.

Four-wheel traction control that’s integrated with the 4MATIC all-wheel drive; counters wheelspin by applying brakes individually.

Brake Assist, which can shorten stopping distances by sensing emergency braking and automatically applying full-power brake force.

Chassis like a Sports Car

The new platform makes use of power-assisted rack-and-pinion steering and four-wheel independent suspension with double control arms in the front and a four-link suspension at the rear. Ample braking is provided by large four-wheel disc brakes with vented discs and double-piston calipers up front. The R350 has 17-inch seven-spoke light-alloy wheels shod with 235 / 65 R 17 tires, and the R500 comes with 18-inch wheels fitted with 255 / 55 R 18 tires. Either model can be ordered with an AMG sport package or Appearance package that includes 19-inch wheels and tires.

U.S. Assembly Plant

The R-Class is produced at the Mercedes-Benz assembly plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. While Mercedes cars were manufactured under license in the United States from 1905-1907 by the Steinway Piano Company, the Tuscaloosa plant was the first real U.S. passenger vehicle production facility for Mercedes-Benz. Since its opening in 1997, more than 570,000 M-Class sport utilities were produced at the plant.

To add R-Class production, the plant has undergone a $600 million expansion over the past four years, doubling production capacity to 160,000 vehicles a year, doubling the workforce to 4,000, and doubling the size of the plant to about three million square feet. The expanded plant includes two assembly shops, two paint shops and a larger body shop.

I predict once people figure out what the R-Class is, it will sell big. Is it a minivan? Is it a SUV? Is it a station wagon? Stay tuned.

And don’t forget, on its heels will be the 7-passenger new G-Class (think stretched M-Class for 7, not the old box).

Safe Saks

Visions of Sugarplums and the All-New 2007 Mercedes-Benz S-Class…

Let the Holiday Dreaming Begin!!

Mercedes-Benz to Offer Exclusive Signature Edition of All-New 2007 S-Class Flagship Sedan in Annual Saks Fifth Avenue “The Gift” Holiday Catalog

Pioneering technology meets bespoke luxury in limited edition of the world’s most desirable luxury sedan

Montvale, NJ – Mercedes-Benz USA and Saks Fifth Avenue come together to offer the Signature Edition of the all-new 2007 S-Class sedan. Just 20 Signature Edition S-Class vehicles will be offered exclusively through Saks’ annual “The Gift” holiday catalog which mails to customers on October 16, 2005.

Widely recognized as the world’s benchmark luxury sedan, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class can trace its history back to 1924. Since this time it has continued to redefine the pinnacle of automotive engineering with each new generation introduced. Pairing an aggressive and commanding design, with revolutionary technology, such as Night View infrared driving assistance, the all-new the 2007

S-Class will make its official public debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show this September and is expected to arrive in US showrooms in early 2006.

The Signature Edition S-Class, built exclusively for Saks Fifth Avenue, features an exclusive Mocha Metallic Black exterior paint with a light and warm almond beige interior cabin. Hand-polished Piano Lacquer Black wood accentuates the dash and doors. The almond beige colored dashboard console lightens the cabin with soft surfaces and artful style, while contrasting black carpets and headliner envelop the driver and passengers in tasteful elegance.

In addition to the distinctive interior and exterior color combinations, a generous complement of standard equipment will be offered. Highlighting the striking interior and creating a greater sense of space, a dramatic transparent glass Panorama Roof will run the length of the cabin. Dynamic Rear View Monitor and Parktronic are especially convenient for city navigation. Audiophiles will delight in Sirius satellite radio and a DVD audio changer, both of which present superior listening variety and audio quality through all fourteen speakers and 600 watts of the harman/kardon Logic7 surround system. Drive Dynamic Seats have four massage levels that work throughout the seatback to reduce muscle fatigue, and Night View presents infra-red driving assistance.

Letter From Europe

(via Blackberry. The author had just picked up an SLK 55 AMG on the European Delivery Program. If you’re reading this and have been told by your salesman that he/she can’t get you an SLK 55 AMG because they just aren’t making enough, note that I managed to not only get one, but to get one for European Delivery for Mr. Phillipson.)

The European delivery is everything you said it would be. Why did I wait so long? More importantly, why didn’t you recommend it to me more forcefully in the past??

On delivery day in Stuttgart, we awoke to thunderstorms. It was pouring down rain. I resigned myself to driving to Hinterzarten in the rain, with visions of the new car being slathered with brown, oily highway spume on arrival there. It rained all the way through lunch and the factory tour. Then, shortly before we took delivery, the heavens cleared, and lo! The sun! We had a glorious drive to our wonderful hotel Bulherhohe, with the top down! It rained on several other occasions, but as soon as we got into the car to drive away, the sun shone! I still can’t believe it! We did hit a few drizzles, just enough to annoy me, and send me looking for a car wash. The one thing Mercedes could do to improve the overall experience would be to offer car washes at nearby dealerships. No kidding, for nuts like me, this alone would make the experience so much more satisfying.

Our luggage just fit, so we could have the top down at any time we felt like it. One large suitcase, two medium sized hanging bags, (one behind the passenger seat, the other in the boot), and a small briefcase, (also in the boot). The Graf Zeppelin in Stuttgart sent one large suitcase forward to Munich for us, so that when we checked in there, the receptionist said, “. . . and your other suitcase has also arrived”. Very comforting words!

The SLK55 is an amazing car. It looks good inside and out. It is comfortable to sit in and drive. It handles as well as my 911 (996 model) did, at least, up to my limits. It sounds great, and it goes very, very fast. And it held all that luggage!

Gordon Phillipson

R-Class Technical Data

Vehicle type

Four-door, six-passenger sports touring vehicle

Chassis

Unit body construction

Engine

350-90-degree V6

500-90-degree V8

Engine material

Aluminum

Valvetrain

350-Double overhead camshaft per cylinder bank,

two intake valves and two exhaust valves per cylinder

500-Single overhead camshaft per cylinder bank,

two intake valves and one exhaust valve per cylinder

Displacement (cu. in./cc)

350-213.5 / 3,498

500-303.0 / 4,966

Bore (in./mm)

350-3.66 / 92.9

500-3.81 / 96.8

Stroke (in./mm)

350-3.39 / 86.0

500-3.31 / 84.0

Compression ratio

350-10.7:1

500-10.0:1

Horsepower @ rpm

350-268 @ 6,000

500-302 @ 5,600

Torque (lb-ft.) @ rpm

350-258 @ 2,400-5,000

500-339 @ 2,700-4,750

Intake system

Sequential fuel injection, electronic throttle control, two-stage variable length intake manifold

Engine management

350-ME 9.7 engine control with one ignition coil over one spark plug per cylinder

500-ME 2.8 engine control with phase-shifted twin sparkplugs per cylinder, two coils per cylinder

Max. engine speed 6,000

Transmission

Seven-speed electronically controlled automatic, Touch Shift manual controls

Gear ratios

1 – 4.38:1

2 – 2.86:1

3 – 1.92:1

4 – 1.37:1

5 –1.00:1

6 – 0.82:1

7 – 0.73:1

R – 3.42:1

R2 “comfort mode” – 2.23:1

Final drive

350 – 3.90:1

500 – 3.70:1

Stability control

ESP Electronic Stability program integrating brake application and throttle intervention

Traction control

Four-wheel traction control with brake and throttle intervention

Suspension

Four-wheel independent

front – Upper and lower control arms, coil springs, gas shock absorbers, stabilizer bar (optional Airmatic system with air springs and ADS adaptive damping)

rear – Four-link, coil springs, shock absorbers (optional Airmatic system with air springs and ADS adaptive damping)

Steering

Rack and pinion, hydraulic power assist

Turns, lock-to-lock – 3.62

Steering ratio – 18.6 : 1

Turning radius (ft.) – 40.7

Wheels

350 – 7.5 x 17-inch alloy

500 – 8.0 x 18-inch alloy

Tires

standard

350 – 235 / 65 R 17 104H (all season)

500 – 255 / 55 R 18 105H (all season)

optional

8.0 x 19-inch 255 / 50 R 19 103H (all season high performance) with optional AMG Sport Package and Appearance Package

Brakes

Hydraulic power assisted 4-wheel discs with 4-channel ABS anti-lock, Brake Assist System

Disc diameter (in./mm) front

350 – 13.0 / 330; vented

500 – 13.8 / 350; vented

rear

350 – 13.0 / 330; solid

500 – 13.0 / 330; vented

Disc thickness (in./mm) front

1.26 / 32

rear

350 – 0.55 / 14

500 – 0.87 / 22

Exterior dimensions (in./mm)

Wheelbase — 126.6 / 3,215

Length — 203.0 / 5,157

Width (mirrors folded) — 77.5 / 1,968

Height — 65.2 / 1,656

Ground clearance — 5.8 / 147

Track, front — 65.5 / 1,665

rear — 65.3 / 1,658

Curb weight (lbs.)

350 – 4,766

500 – 4,845

Aerodynamic drag (Cd)

350 – 0.31

500 – 0.32

Frontal area (sq. m. / sq. ft.)

350 – 2.74 / 29.5

500 – 2.76 / 29.7

Interior dimensions (in./mm)

Head room (w/sunroof) front 39.8 / 1,010

2nd row – 40.4 / 1,027

3rd row – 37.2 / 946

Leg room

front – 39.8 / 1,010

2nd row – 36.2 / 920

3rd row – 32.4 / 825

Shoulder room

front – 60.3 / 1,530

2nd row – 59.6 / 1,514

3rd row – 52.8 / 1,342

Cargo Length

3rd row up – 19.4 / 493

3rd row backrest down – 43.0 / 1,092

2nd & 3rd row folded flat – 63 / 1,600 - 92 / 2,337

Cargo floor width – 44.5 / 1,130

Capacities

Cabin volume (cu. ft.) – 162.1

Cargo volume (cu. ft.)

seats up – 15.2

3rd row down – 42.2

2nd and 3rd rows down – 85.0

Gross Veh. Weight (lbs.)

350 – 6,305

500 – 6,382

Max. total payload (incl. 6 passengers, lbs.)

350 – 1,635

500 – 1,620

Fuel tank (gallons) – 25.1 (3.2 reserve)

Performance

0-60 (seconds)

350 – 7.8

500 – 6.5

Top speed (mph) – 130 (electronically limited)

Fuel mileage, city/hwy (EPA estimates) TBD

* Technical information listed here is preliminary and subject to change.

Miscellaneous Ravings

Cheap @#$^%! Tire

I had to call Roadside Assistance recently. This was all because of the cheap tires on my Mercedes. Boy, what junk. The tire failed just because I ran over one of the new, improved I-10 Lane Dividers, a 6” long, 1” square spike standing vertical. I don’t know about Mercedes quality these days.

Anyway, I called Michael Martini, the Roadside Assistance driver, and he said to hang tight. He was on his way to change a tire at Memorial City Hospital, and then he would come to me. A few minutes later, during which I sat inside the car with the AC running (95°F outside). Changing the tire was easy with his equipment, a battery powered impact wrench, a floor jack, a tire pump, and gloves. So I could go to work instead of going home to change after changing a tire. As rare as the tires are for ML55 AMGs, I had one by the next afternoon.

Disclaimer: For those of you without the sense-of-humor gene, the comments about the tire were meant to be tongue-in-cheek. This, however, is usually how people complain to me about such things.

Quotes

“Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today . . . It’s already tomorrow in Australia” Charles Schulz in a Peanuts strip first published 13 June 1980.

“If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.” The Dalai Lama, 15 May, 2001 (The Lama carries a Sig. So do his bodyguards.)

Obviously looking at the camera wasn’t on the curriculum. In Patton’s defense, there were a lot of distractions there.

Graduate Dog

George S. Patton, Jr. graduated from Puppy Boot Camp at PU (Petsmart University). He demonstrated his ability to sit, stay, down, leave it, come, look at me, wait, heel, rescue Timmy from the well, rappel off the 34 foot tower, prepare a meal of veal cordon bleu preceded by a spinach and artichoke salad, with Crepes Suzette for dessert, do minor surgery, and bite off cojones of intruders on command (mild exaggeration). Elected guidon bearer, he was an honor graduate.

He is now qualified for puppy OCS, Airborne, and Ranger training.

The Redhead, on the other hand, is now ready for six consecutive Sundays without classes to attend.

“The Honesty Scam”

I gave a speech to budding sales people at The University of Houston’s College of Business recently. They actually teach selling there. Sales is a minor, and more people apply than get in. 1200 students a year take the basic sales course, the one I spoke to, and 20% of those apply to minor in sales. Half of those get in. They have 5 courses in all, up to sales management. The first part sounds good, all the way until it gets to sales management. I’m not opposed to teaching sales management, but I’m of the opinion that no one should be a sales manager who hasn’t had to sell the product his sales force is selling.

If he hasn’t sold cars, for example, he doesn’t know what it’s like to be at the end of the month and desperately need a deal or two and have a sales manager run a customer off just to show he’s more macho than the customer. If he hasn’t done it, he can be a manager, but probably not a leader.

What’s the difference?

Management is, “take that hill, captain.”

Leadership is, “Follow me.”

I will admit there are different skills involved. I’ve had pretty good managers I wouldn’t let talk to a customer. There are people who make good sales managers but couldn’t sell ammunition in a firefight.

Anyway, it was a good, energetic group that looked interested, laughed at the right places, and asked intelligent questions. They should go far if they keep the enthusiasm they have there.

Most of the speech has been on these pages. I pulled up “New Salesman’s Request” from the May 2004 issue and adapted it for the speech. But before I got to that point I mentioned that when I got into the biz in ’78, I didn’t like what the “old pros” were telling me about how to sell cars and modified their methods to something I could tolerate. It was new and iconoclastic in the car biz. It’s called honesty. I haven’t changed it much since I started, and it works most of the time except when people think it’s “The honesty scam,” meaning that I’m like the car salesmen in “Used Cars”, but I’m pretending to be honest. It usually takes a while to overcome this. Often it’s the second or third car. Everyone has been taught that every car salesman is a crook. It’s hard to get past that stereotype.

One student asked if I had trouble living with my honesty rules. Did management ever tell me to do something that conflicted?

Well, the answer to question one is no. I don’t bend on that. Here the owner feels the same way, so usually there’s no conflict. Managers have told me to lie to customers in the past. My response was always either to go tell the customer the truth or to tell the manager if he wanted to lie to the customer, he would have to do it himself.

He didn’t ask, “Has honesty ever gotten you in trouble?”

You betcha. “You told the customer WHAT?” But lying would get me into more trouble. Making up the answer to a technical question would probably cost me future sales when the person found out. Saying “I don’t know,” and finding out doesn’t. Every once in a while I’ll get a question to which I don’t know the answer, and the customer will ask, “well, can you ask someone who does know?”

Yes, but it generally takes time to get that answer. If I don’t know it here and Eddie O’Neal or Ken Hodge don’t know, then probably no one else does at Star Motor Cars. Someone in the training department at MBUSA might, but getting them to respond to e-mails is difficult.

I did give them some bonus suggestions not in my letter to the prospective salesman originally. Most of them probably apply to other professions, too:

1. Let the customer win.

I want the customer to win. He wins a new car that’ll be a major factor in his life for several years. He wins a car that might be called upon to sacrifice itself to save his life. I have a long list of customers who have survived “non-survivable” accidents. If that means selling a car a little cheaper than you should, well, so be it. There are worse sins, and selling twenty cars at a discount is better than selling ten at full sticker even if the total gross is the same. Now you have twenty customers for referrals and future business instead of ten. And on that subject, we never sell at over sticker. A model you want might be five thousand over sticker at other stores, but not at ours. We’ll have a longer waiting list, but you won’t be bumped by someone who pays over to get it now.

2. Never get greedy. It’s better to sell a lot of cars at good prices for the customer than a few home runs. I have said many times I make a living making good deals for customers.

3. Jerks buy cars, too. The car biz is screwed up because of the simple fact that we have trade-ins. Everyone believes his trade in is perfect and worth two times book. A lot of people take courses on how to buy a car that involve deception, rudeness, and thoughtlessness, and those are the nice people. The car biz brought this on themselves with systems houses designed by the Mafia in the fifties. Now people are conditioned to bargain for their cars as though they were in a bazaar in Marrakech.. Mercedes, when they cut the dealer markup in half in 2000, said that henceforth Mercedes would be sold on a no-haggle basis, and that would make up for the low margin of profit. Bat Guano. That lasted all of thirty seconds or so. Now the State of Texas makes more on every sale than the dealer does, and people expect us to discount from that. Supply and demand still apply. If the car is on six month back order, list price is a good deal. If there are fifty in stock, someone will discount to sell the car.

As a salesman, I have to sell cars anyway. There are people who act like jerks when buying cars and afterwards. I would dearly love to be able to say, “Excuse me, sir. I only deal with jerks from eight to nine in the morning. You’ll have to call back.” I don’t, but I’d like to, of course.

4. Discipline is a very important part of selling. Discipline occurs in two forms, outside discipline, such as the military or the average sales manager at an American car dealership, and self-discipline. If you don’t have self-discipline, outside discipline will be applied. The more self-discipline you have, the more money you will make, the more successful you will be. This, of course, is applicable to most professions.

5. Applicable to all professions and life in general is: Never hurry. God invented time so things wouldn’t happen all at once, but three customers still come in at the same time on Saturday, and the screaming, angry service customer attacks you when you’re trying to close a sale. At these times I remember Colonel Couch’s advice to us. “Never hurry, even in combat. Work with deliberate speed. If you hurry, you’ll screw up and get people killed.”

Then one day six-foot six Colonel Couch hurried to keep up with the five foot tall Vietnamese general he was shepherding, and he ran into a helicopter blade. I might not have believed his lecture, but the practical demonstration has stuck with me.

6. In any sales force there is at least one carrier of gloom and doom. No matter what happens, his glass is nearly empty. “The world, as we know it, is going to hell in a handbasket.” “Sales are off.” “Commissions are down.” If he shows up in your sales force, kindly invite him to see something behind the dealership and kill him. I’ve just spent half of my drive to work putting myself in a positive state of mind and planning my day, and he’s trying to mess me up. Since you’re unlikely to do that, no matter how much you want to, you have to work to be positive. His goal is to destroy your morale and keep you from selling. Depressed people don’t sell well. Find someway to ignore him, and remain positive. In my world if no one is shooting at me and The Redhead and the cats and dog are still at home waiting for me, then it’s a happy world, and everything else can be overcome.

7. Another thing I learned in combat is, it’s okay to be afraid. It’s just not okay to show it or to effect your actions. In all situations, think, “what would I do if I wasn’t afraid?” Then do it. It kind of goes with number six. If you’re positive and unafraid, there’s no limit to what you can accomplish.

Curt Rich August 2005

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