Mercedes-Benz C-Class

 The 2014 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) was held from January 13 through January 26, 2014, with the show being open to the public starting January 18. The public show attracted a total of 803,451 visitors, the first time since 2003 that the show had over 800,000 visitors.

 While global sales had increased in 2013, Europe still struggled, experiencing a decline of 1.7 percent from the previous year. This was reflected in the displays of European automakers at the show.  Whereas other automakers were willing to display extreme and futuristic concepts and take more risks, most European OEMs displayed concepts and models that were more practical and showed off steady gains in engineering.

 Volkswagen demonstrated its most powerful Golf model yet, while also displaying the Passat BlueMotion and Beetle Dune concepts. Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz marque debuted the C-Class, GLA45 AMG, and its flagship S600 model. BMW unveiled its 2 Series coupe, its M3 sedan and M3 coupe, while Porsche presented another high-performance model in the 911 Targa.

 This report is the second of three reports which focus on the vehicles displayed at the 2014lb-ft North American International Auto Show. This report will focus on vehicles showcased by European OEMs, specifically Volkswagen, Daimler, and BMW, with a smaller emphasis on Jaguar, Volvo, and Porsche. The first report detailed models from US OEMs. A third report will be released later highlighting models from Asian OEMs.

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