More and more car brands are entering the America's Cup. After BMW (Team BMW Oracle) and Toyota (Team New Zealand), Mercedes-Benz is now also appearing in the Cup environment. Albeit on a smaller scale. The vehicle division of the DaimlerChrysler Group supports Alinghi as an official supplier.
This means that Alinghi will drive Mercedes until 2007. The Mercedes-Benz press release states: "The Americas Cup is a symbol of absolute superiority in sailing. Winning it is probably one of the greatest sporting achievements of all. It demands a perfect interplay of state-of-the-art technology, expertise, flexibility and team spirit from the participants.
The aspirations of the Mercedes-Benz brand in terms of technology and innovation leadership harmonise with the high-tech and lifestyle focus of sailing and the passion and professionalism of Team Alinghi. The brand uses professional sailing as a communication platform and to run hospitality programmes for VIP customers."
DaimlerChrysler was most recently active in sailing as the main sponsor of the DaimlerChrysler North Atlantic Challenge in 2004. From 1993 to 1995, the Group led the ambitious AeroSail project and was the sponsor of the 1996 Olympic sailing team.
