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Maybach lost upwards of $500k on each vehicle sold

Daimler is shuttering Maybach in 2013 after seven years of production. In that time, the company's ultra-ultra-luxury arm managed to sell just 3,000 units, and CAR reports Daimler lost somewhere around $500,000 on each and every one of them.
Even with a ludicrous price tag of over $370,000 for an "entry" Maybach 57, the brand couldn't quite recoup the dizzying $1.33 billion Daimler poured into it since its (re)inception. Rumors ignited over a possible tie up with Aston Martin that would have resulted in a range of new and attractive models, but Daimler has instead decided to snuff out Maybach altogether.
We can hardly blame them.

Daimler names Bernd Pischetsrieder to supervisory board

Some executives in the automotive industry stay with one company for their entire careers, while others bounce from one to the other, often leaving their indelible mark on each automaker at which they serve. Bob Lutz is certainly an example of the latter. So is Lee Iacocca, having presided over Ford and later charing the Chrysler board. Carlos Tavares was chief operating officer of Renault before being nominated as chief executive at PSA Peugeot Citroën. But as far as the Germans go, nobody's jumped from the leadership of one automaker to the next quite like Bernd Pischetsrieder - especially now that he's been named to the supervisory board of Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler.
An engineer by training, Pischetsrieder started his career at BMW in 1973, eventually rising to the office of CEO after twenty years. There he remained until 1999, only to be dismissed after orchestrating BMW's takeover of the Rover Group (of which only the Mini brand remains in the company's portfolio, the other brands having been sold off after his dismissal).
The next year he was named chairman of Volkswagen's Seat brand, and rose to the chairmanship of the entire Volkswagen Group two years later. Despite a largely successful four-year tenure (that gave birth, incidentally, to the Bugatti Veyron), disagreements with supervisory board chairman Ferdinand Piëch saw him leave the helm at VW AG, focusing his attention on the Scania truck division. He's since been touted as a potential chief executive for Opel and for Continental, but neither potential was apparently realized.

Mercedes teams with Pebble for smartwatch tech

Most automakers have realized by now that a good infotainment system is a must-have feature for many buyers, and have, as a result, invested increasing amounts of time and money developing these technologies. But some automakers are going above and beyond in-car entertainment and navigation technology by focusing on wearable technology as well.
Nissan has emerged as one such company, developing its own alternative to Google Glass and performance-oriented smartwatch. But Mercedes-Benz is also putting itself at the forefront of wearable tech - not by developing competing products to those designed by dedicated tech companies, but by working with them. The German automaker, as we recently reported, is developing its own app for Google Glass, and is now doing the same with smartwatches as well.
Set to be unveiled at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Mercedes has collaborated with Pebble Technologies to develop the Digital DriveStyle app. The system will display tell its wearer where the car is, whether the doors are locked and if it needs fuel. Inside the car it'll alert the driver to potential hazards coming up on the road, while making functions like re-routing the nav system, controlling the audio system or activating Siri that much easier.