Mercedes-Benz adds rich media to sites
(Credit:
Mercedes-Benz)
Mercedes-Benz is relaunching all of its Web sites to include more rich media content and tools, the company announced Monday.
The change will effect over 50 brand sites and 1,000 dealership sites around the world. The brand sites will include higher-resolution photos, videos and a 3D vehicle configuration tool, as well as Mercedes-Benz television commercials and links to Mercedes-Benz TV.
While several car companies already offer media rich Web sites, the change is significant for the German automaker as it could signal that Mercedes is getting serious about courting a younger demographic of drivers.
The company cites increased broadband connections and visitors to its sites, as its main reasons for change.
It has been a year of change for the luxury automaker, which took home the 2007 World Green Car Award at the 2007 New York auto show for its E320 Bluetec car that gets about 37 mpg. The company also did a complete revamp of its brand design in November. The design had not been changed for 18 years.
While the U.S. version of the new site has not yet been rolled out, interested people can check out the revamped German Mercedes-Benz site.
In a software-driven world, it's easy to forget about the nuts and bolts. Whether it's cars, robots, personal gadgetry or industrial machines, Candace Lombardi examines the moving parts that keep our world rotating. A journalist who divides her time between the United States and the United Kingdom, Lombardi has written about technology for the sites of The New York Times, CNET, USA Today, MSN, ZDNet, Silicon.com, and GameSpot. E-mail her at candacelombardi@gmail.com. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET. 
