100 Things You Should Know About Mercedes-Benz | #11

The sun never sets at Mercedes-Benz.

To prevent any confusion about the astronomical facts, let’s clarify one point before we begin: It goes without saying that the sun sets every day in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, casting a wonderful rosy glow over the Mercedes-Benz Museum, the Mercedes-Benz plant, the Daimler Group Headquarters, and the nearby vineyards.

2 min reading time

by Sven Sattler, Editor
published on August 27, 2020

Of course, the sun sets every day in Stuttgart. The sunset over the Mercedes-Benz Museum and the neighboring Daimler Group Headquarters sometimes even turns out to be such a fascinating play of colors.
Of course, the sun sets every day in Stuttgart. The sunset over the Mercedes-Benz Museum and the neighboring Daimler Group Headquarters sometimes even turns out to be such a fascinating play of colors.

Still, while people in Stuttgart have to turn on the lights, the day for our colleagues somewhere else has just begun — for example, at Mercedes-Benz New Zealand in Auckland. On the North Island of New Zealand, it’s ten to twelve hours later than in Germany, depending on the season.

Mercedes-Benz’s subsidiaries operate on every continent, and thus in (almost) every time zone. That’s why there’s always bright daylight in one or another Mercedes-Benz location out there in the wide world. This becomes glaringly obvious on any summer day: When it’s 10 a.m. in Stuttgart, it’s already 8 p.m. at Mercedes-Benz New Zealand, 5 p.m. at FUSO in Japan, and 1:30 p.m. at Daimler India Commercial Vehicles in Chennai. And at the very same time, our colleagues at Daimler Trucks North America in Portland, Oregon are still enjoying their well-earned nightly rest at 1 a.m.

When it’s night in Stuttgart, …
When it’s night in Stuttgart, …
... the workday is still in full swing at Daimler Trucks North America, …
... the workday is still in full swing at Daimler Trucks North America, …
… and at FUSO in Kawasaki (for example, at the Product and Design Center in the photo), a new day has already begun.
… and at FUSO in Kawasaki (for example, at the Product and Design Center in the photo), a new day has already begun.
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So from a purely chronometric perspective, the truism that clocks tick somewhat differently at different locations is absolutely correct. However, if you’ve just about to miss a deadline, suddenly the time is the same everywhere: five minutes to midnight.

In this column we present interesting, odd, or generally unknown facts from the world of Mercedes-Benz. We publish a new story in the series of “100 things you should know about Mercedes-Benz” regularly here on Mercedes-Benz Magazine.

Sven Sattler

knows that his supervisors also read his texts from time to time. That’s why he’d like to take this opportunity to emphasize that he’s not turning in his assignment at five minutes to midnight, has never done so in the past, and will never do so in the future. Promise!

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