From Sweden Shock the World Of

It was a nice October day in the year 1997, the world of carmakers was celebrating Daimler–Benz’s new highend luxury limousine “Mercedes-Benz Maybach’’ at the Tokyo Motor Show, when suddenly the news about the “Moose-Test’’ fell like a bombshell. With the so-called swerve to avoid hitting elks (“Moose-Test’’), the Swedish car tester Robert Collin had destroyed the reputation of Mercedes’ A-Class, the “safest’’ car in the subcompact class. The test report from Sweden and Collin’s harsh judgment — “the introduction of the A-Class should be stopped,’’ hit the Daimler – Benz group at its most sensitive spot. From that point on, the Daimler – Benz group and especially its car division Mercedes-Benz were faced with major problems for the next few months.