Mercedes-Benz hits 125 on the road

When former US Vice President and popular climate change speaker Al Gore flew into town for his “Asian” edition of the blockbuster An Inconvenient Truth last year, you could very well say he was transported in appropriate style and class – via a luxurious Mercedes-Benz S400 hybrid. It was CATS Motors, Inc. president Felix Ang’s own set of wheels.

We kid Ang if he rented out his car to the environmentalist (he didn’t). “It was our honor, of course,” he says with a smile.

And it was the definitive statement to make as well, answering the question Philippine STAR’s Scott Garceau poses at our small roundtable: Can luxury and eco-friendly co-exist?

Furthermore, Daimler South East Asia Pte. Ltd. president and CEO Wolfgang Huppenbauer volunteers that, this week, a bit of history will be made with the launch of the first S Class sedan that features a four-cylinder engine. The S Class heretofore has been using six or more cylinders. This development though, assures Huppenbauer, doesn’t mean performance will be compromised. “It basically features the same amount of high torque,” he says, “but with lower CO2 emissions.” He stresses: “Today, it’s possible to combine luxury and efficiency.”

Even subsidiary AMG, which features peak performance on Benzes, has been looking at its mission with a veritable new set of spectacles – starting to shun, Huppenbauer says, naturally-aspirated engines in favor of twin turbos which “bring down emissions and fuel consumption by 15 to 20 percent.”

Meanwhile, the Mercedes-Benz “Blue Efficiency” credo, started in 1986, envisions to reduce emissions systematically to a desirable zero, as well as implement sustainability measures (even in production) to lessen adverse impact on the environment.

You might say the folks at Mercedes-Benz know their business. And why not? They’ve been at it for more than a hundred years. The Stuttgart-headquartered carmaker is turning 125 years – yes, 125 long years of making cars, moving goods and people, and turning quite a few heads along the way.

While we’re at it, it’s been a solid 60 years since the star and laurel entered the Philippines through a locally licensed distributor. The story goes that when Charles Lee went to Stuttgart in 1951 on a mission to get the nod, the export manager declared: “Where the heck is the Philippines?”

Today, Filipinos snap up 600 to 700 of the German cars that rank among the definitive status symbols that say that, well, you’ve arrived.

And, no, Mercedes-Benz is not just for people “advanced in years,” either. “Our vehicles have changed dramatically in appearance over time,” insists Huppenbauer. “They have become ‘younger’ while still recognizable as Mercedes-Benz.”

REPRESENTING THE TRI-STAR: CATS Motors, Inc. president Felix Ang and Daimler South East Asia Pte. Ltd. president and CEO Wolfgang Huppenbauer look forward to even greater strides as Mercedes-Benz celebrated its 125th anniversary in opulent fashion last week.

Felix Ang points out that the AMG variants, in particular, are a hit among young executives, even as the C Class remains the best-selling segment. The reason, perhaps, why the Benz is considered an old man’s car is that there are so many loyal customers who have grown up (and matured) with the dependable brand.

To those who wonder where a big-ticket item like this figures on the radar of an overtly struggling economy, Huppenbauer shares a figure: the local premium segment, shares grew 35 percent from 2009 to 2010 – proof positive, maybe, that the country has shrugged off any lingering effect of the international recession at the close of the last decade. This segment, while expanding, now also features more players. That means competition is heating up. Currently, Mercedes-Benz is slugging it out with fellow German automaker BMW for local market leadership.

That strategy to distinguish itself from competition is to capitalize on what makes Mercedes-Benz strong – not to mention memorable. “We have 125 years of innovation and experience. We know how to build cars,” declares CATS Motors Sales and Planning VP Robert Shaw simply. “We have forward-looking innovation.”

On paper, that sounds convincing enough, but Shaw maintains that half of the experience is admiring the vehicle in the showroom. “The other half is actually driving the car.”

Indeed, Huppenbauer reveals: “We insist on our partners that the test drive is one of the keys to sell a car. We grade these partners on how many test drives they give out.”

The worldwide commemoration of the 125th birthday candle of the Mercedes-Benz brand fittingly kicked off at Stuttgart early this year, and there is much excitement to go around locally as well.

CATS Motors is set to inaugurate its spanking-new five-storey corporate headquarters on EDSA, and will extend its reach with two new showrooms in Alabang and Cebu. Ang says to watch for motorshows, driving clinics, and other activities – not to mention local launches of no less than four models: a CLS, an SLK, a C-Coupe, and finally, a “secret” vehicle.

Truly, time hasn’t slowed down this classic of classics. If anything, it has given Mercedes-Benz 125 years of momentum.