BUSINESS ABROAD: The Solid Gold Mercedes

Next to Marlene Dietrich, Germany's most ageless export is the fast, shapely Mercedes-Benz, whose three-pointed-star symbol has long been associated with riches and beauty. To the world's auto connoisseurs, the Mercedes offers not only superb craftsmanship and loving attention to detail, but conservative styling that has not basically changed since the 1930s. But even the grand old lady of the auto world (Stuttgart's proud Daimler-Benz, Mercedes' maker, claims to be the world's oldest auto producer) occasionally indulges in a bit of sprucing up. Last week Daimler-Benz showed off its new Mercedes...

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