The Mercedes-Benz Passage at Mercedes-Benz World in Stuttgart: Linking tradition with the present

Stuttgart, Apr 27, 2006 Visitors are able to move conveniently between the Mercedes-Benz Museum and the Mercedes-Benz Center Stuttgart via a 80-metre long Passage. The Passage not only represents a spatial link between tradition and the present, but is also an attractive experience world in its own right, with catering services, shops, presentations and outside areas.

A variety of attractions welcome visitors as they walk between the New Mercedes Benz Museum and the adjacent Mercedes-Benz Center Stuttgart. In the Passage they are able to enjoy a variety of catering establishments, purchase souvenirs in different shops dedicated to the brand or make use of additional services such as an ATM, postbox or public telephone.

The catering establishments’ services offer culinary delights to suit every taste. The restaurant has a light cuisine with regional specialities and classic international dishes, while eight diners are able to get together for an undisturbed, cosy meal in the inglenook room. Those in a hurry will find snacks, finger-food, fresh salads and a buffet with daily changing dishes in the Bistro. The bar serves exotic drinks and refreshing cocktails, including non-alcoholic beverages of course.

In the summer visitors can enjoy a touch of the Mediterranean lifestyle, and the conservatory even extends this into the winter months. To make sure that children can enjoy themselves too, a special area is reserved for them in the Passage.

The shops are also an inviting place to spend time and browse at leisure. Seating is provided for visitors to relax while they leaf through their newly purchased Mercedes-Benz books. The concept takes the many varied wishes of visitors from Germany and abroad into account. Accordingly all the product lines marketed by the Mercedes-Benz brand and Mercedes-Benz Accessories GmbH are represented, from the Museum Shop and the Classic Collection to the Motorsport Collection and the Driversline range.

More than 3000 products bearing the Mercedes star are available here, on a sales area totalling 697 square metres. Interesting literature and high-quality miniatures, carefully selected clothing items and useful day-to-day objects are to be found, as well as luxury watches, decorative home furnishings or small gifts for those left at home.

Visitors from abroad in particular will appreciate the range of regional specialities from Stuttgart and the surrounding area, as this enables them to take souvenirs typical of the region back home as a memento of their visit to the birthplace of the automobile.

The Passage also gives visitors an insight into the further activities of the Mercedes Car Group: current models of the high-end Maybach, the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren super-sportscar and the smart are on show to illustrate the variety of cars currently on offer.

The open-air area leading up to the passage has a multitude of uses. A plaza and an open-air arena allow practically every conceivable type of event to be held. Some 500 seats arranged in a semicircle and an elegantly curved approach road is bound to make presentations an unforgettable experience. In total, the open-air site attached to Mercedes-Benz World in Stuttgart has space for up to 30,000 visitors.