The President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific, Wolfgang D. Schrempp said: “We are excited to be associated with and to provide support to an event that brings together so many young people from around the world to Sydney to celebrate in a positive environment of cross cultural dialogue.”

World Youth Day is the largest gathering of young people in the world. It is a major international event whose size and scale on major celebration days far exceeds any international sporting event.

The last World Youth Day was held in Cologne, Germany in 2005, where more than 1.2 million people attended the Final Mass. World Youth Day usually attracts pilgrims from 170 nations and thousands of international journalists.

In Sydney an estimated 500,000 participants are expected to attend at least one WYD08 event during the week-long celebration. With an expected 225,000 registered visitors to visit Sydney during WYD08 (including 125,000 from overseas) it will be one of the biggest and most significant events in Australia.

“The positive showcasing of Sydney to a worldwide audience of hundreds of millions of people is a fantastic opportunity for Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific to be a key contributor,” said Schrempp.

“Mercedes-Benz has a long history of supplying a variety of vehicles to the Vatican, ranging from fire trucks to limosuines, with the unmistakable popemobiles being a regular feature of the Vatican’s transport fleet,” concluded Schrempp.

There will be two Mercedes-Benz M-Class based Popemobiles used during WYD08.