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BARGAIN-RATE CAR INSURANCE WITH BARGAIN-RATE SERVICE IS NO BARGAIN Don't trust just anyone to insure your car, see me: fB s c e a r ir W ayne M cG ill 2345 Wyecroft R d #21, Oakville 905 -847-5671 BEST WHEELS An Oakville Beaver Automotive Feature · To advertise in this section call 905-845-3824 or Fax 905-337-5568 OAKVILLE NISSAN m Fleet % n Bob M cIntosh 6 1 6 York St. O akville Direct: 9 0 M 2 7 - 7 1 9 1 We lease all m akes and models. F or exactly 100 years, the name Mercedes has been synonymous with the most innovative auto motive brand in the world. Since the first Mercedes was supplied by the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) on December 22, 1900, a dynamic developed which led in a direct line to the founding of the international auto motive concern, DaimlerChrysler AG, at the end of the 20th century. Mercedes is today the world's most successful premium-quality automo tive brand. The technical prowess, the quality standards and the innovative capability of this brand, and a whole cluster of automotive legends and m as terpieces of the calibre of the 300 SL gull-wing model are quite unique. The Mercedes star has become the most famous automotive symbol and is also one of the five best-known trade marks in the world. At present the brand has some 6.4 million customers, who own some 9.5 million Mercedes-Benz products. These are people who don't wish to drive just any car but opt instead for the latest incarnations o f the Mercedes/Mercedes-Benz legend. This legend has been moulded and shaped by a tradition of technological leadership which now spans 100 years. A long list of innovations, whether Mercedes-Benz THE STORY OF PASSION diesel engines for automotive applica tions, the safety body, the anti-lock braking system (ABS), airbag, the Electronic Stability Program (ESPO), active suspension (ABC), Brake Assist (BAS), ceramic brakes (C-BRAKE) or Sensotronic Brake Control (SBC), brings to mind just one name and one originator: Mercedes-Benz. A hundred years ago, at the begin ning of the 20th century, the very first M ercedes was bought by the Leipzigborn businessman, living at the time in Nice, Emil Jellinek. This keen automobile enthusiast bought his first Daimler car in 1897. He drove it in m otor races and soon became a wholesaler for Daimler. On April 2, 1900 he requested the Daimler management and chief engi neer W ilhelm Maybach to build a car incorporating a new fast, lightweight and safe construction. The same day, Jellinek made a sec ond proposal to DMG: the new car should bear the name of his ten-yearold daughter, Mercedes. In the same month, Jellinek placed an order worth 550,000 gold marks, for 36 vehicles. In today's terms, this would be equivalent to a figure not far short of £2,000,000, or a unit price of about £30,000. The order accounted for more than a third of DMG's total production for the year 1900. For the same money today, Emil Jellinek would get 36 Mercedes-Benz S 500's or more than 100 MercedesBenz C 200 Kompressor models. But today those 100 vehicles would be no more than one ten thousandth of total annual production. All told, the company has built 19 million Mercedes-Benz passenger cars since that first order 100 years ago. In 1900, when annual production of D aim ler-M otoren-G esellschaft was just 96 vehicles, built by a workforce of 344 people, such figures would have been unimaginable. The passenger car market was only just starting to take shape, with no proper road infrastructure in prospect. H igher production volum es would have been virtually impossible, since all vehicles at the time were handbuilt. Statistically, it then took 3.6 employees one year to build one car. Today the figure is down to 0.1. By 1902, the Daimler-MotorenGesellschaft had doubled its produc tion. And in September o f the same year, the company took out a trademark on the name "Mercedes". 24 years later, Daimler merged with Benz & Cie. This union between the companies founded by the two inventors o f the car, Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz, resulted in the formation of DaimlerBenz AG, while the Mercedes trade mark now became Mercedes-Benz. Landm ark models now followed thick and fast, like the incomparable SSK, the elegant and beautiful 540 K, the legendary 300 SL gull-wing model or the "tail-fin" models which took safety to new levels in the early nine teen sixties. All of them are technical milestones in a development path whose bottom line, today, has given us the safest and most comfortable cars in the world: the current S-class and its coupe version, the CL. But the reputation of the MercedesBenz brand rests not just on its passen ger cars but also on its commercial vehicles. DaimlerChrysler AG is today the world's largest manufacturer of com mercial vehicles. The brands include Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner (number one in the USA), Sterling, Thomas B uilt Buses, Setra, W estern Star, Orion, American LaFrance and, in the engines sector, M TU and Detroit Diesel. -- Reprinted, in part, courtesy Mercedes-Benz - The Story o f Passion Website. The all-wheel drive E-Class. For the first time in years, you'll wish it snowed more. THE E-CLASS 4MATIC® Singlehandedly, a Mercedes-Benz E-Class 4MATIC can help you shake an intense dislike for everything that used to make winter driving so unnerving. Thanks, to some extent, to the confidence-inspiring grip that comes with full-time all-wheel drive. But, truth be told, that really is only part of the story. There's also our 4-Wheel Electronic Traction System (4-ETS) which can get you through mother nature's worst by sending power to the wheels with the most traction (even if that's just one). Not to mention, our Electronic Stability Program (ESP) that senses your intended course and, by braking individual wheels or cutting throttle, keeps you on it. So essentially, if you're driving a 4MATIC (available in our V6 E320 sedan, wagon or V8 E430 sedan), you just might find yourself waking up on one of those snowy winter mornings and smiling. p- To set up a test drive or learn more about the all-wheel drive E-Class 4MATIC, VALUE PRICED STARTING AT $72,200' call us, or ju st drop in sometime soon. Mercedes-Benz The F u tu re of th e Autom obile MERAY MOTORS & COLLISION QEW & DORVAL DRIVE · OAKVILLE 905 845-6623 - www.meraymotors.mercedes-benz.ca E x p e r i e n c e M e r c e d e s - B e n z t h r o u g h The C o l l e c t i o n , a c a t a l o g u e of s i g n a t u r e m e r c h a n d i s e a v a i l a b l e at w w w . m e r c e d e s - b e n z . c a . © 2001 M e rc e d e s -B e n z Canada Inc., Toronto, O n tario. A D a im le rC h ry s le r Com pany. *M SR P fo r 2 0 0 2 E 320 4MAT1C Sedan. D ealer m a y s e ll fo r less.