Finally, after a while of teasing us with the new CLS which Merc promised to be their new warhorse in the emerging “four-door coupe” market segment. Merc wants to get the piece of the action that Volkswagen and Audi are having with the A7 and the Passat CC.

Merc hasn’t revealed the powertrain lineup that they will be offering until they formally unveil the car later at the Paris show but we can expect that the slew of V6 and V8s will probably feature in the line.

The new enhancements to the gasoline engines include start-stop systems and direct-injection that supposedly ups the economy by as much as 24%. The 5.4L V8 will be ditched in favor of a twin-turbo 4.7L that offers more power, torque and better economy. Diesels are also expected to be offered.

The CLS uses a modified chassis but wider tracks give the CLS a more sporty and aggressive stance. The front-end will also be given a fiercer look unlike the CLS of old.

Source: Autocar

Check out the meaner version of Merc’s range-topping coupe – the Mercedes CL63 AMG – just around a month since the company revealed the updated standard version. The car is set to slug it out with the likes of the Bentley Continental GT.

Powering the car is a new 5.5L twin-turbocharged V8, replacing the naturally-aspirated 6.2L V8 engine. The new engine dishes out a mean 536 bhp and 590 lb-ft of torque. That’s 18 more than the old car. An sports pack can up the numbers to 563 bhp and 633 lb-ft.

Mated to the engine is an AMG seven-speed multi-clutch transmission that’s based on the seven-speed automatic in the old CL63. The powertrain allows the car to get from standstill to 62 mph in just 4.5 seconds and a limited 155 mph. The sports pack can trim the time by 0.1 second and go all the way to 186 mph.

Added features are an automatic start/stop system and a brake regeneration system that aids the alternator during acceleration. Those green tech gives the CL63 AMG a return of 26.9 mpg which isn’t bad for a 5.5L V8.

So when was it when four on the floor’s considered bad-ass? Now, the game’s into upping the number of speeds in the transmission for optimal performance and fuel efficiency.

Today, seven-speed auto boxes are pretty common but Mercedes-Benz plans to up the ante by developing a nine-speed transmission.

This new transmission will be mated to large displacement engines to give the powertrain better improvements in economy and emissions.

The idea goes, the more gears, the less revs the engine needs to get into speed. The less you put your foot down to get revs, the more economical.

However, the number of gears have an engineering threshold. Merc claims nine is the maximum possible technically as well as acceptable to drivers.

Engines are due for changes especially with the increasing legislation for greener technology. Too bad, the market still has to adjust to the notion that power and efficiency are hard to mix.

Still, Mercedes attempts such combinations with their new line of V6 and V8 gasoline engines that are set to be introduced to their autumn lineup. Merc promises that these engines are more powerful and more efficient.

The new 3.5L V6 now has a narrow-angle block which reduces engine vibration. The engine is still naturally-aspirated. It dishes out 301 bhp (up from 268) and torque is increased to 272 lb-ft (from 258).

The V8, while getting reduced displacement (now at 4.6L from 5.4L), it gets twin-turbos to get increases in both power and torque. Power is now 429 bhp and torque is now a massive 516 lb-ft.

Weight does affect a car’s performance and efficiency. Just take a look at what Lotus cars can do and you’d know that lightweightedness isn’t a load of BS. Oh, didn’t the Caterham 500 beat the million-pound Bugatti Veyron?

Anyway, there are a lot of ways to keep cars light these days. At the upper end of the strata, there’s always good old carbon fiber. Feather light but diamond tough.

Merc’s now into the whole carbon fiber thing and they plan to use oodles of the substance on the upcoming SL. The car’s set to use carbon-fiber reinforced plastics to keep the car’s weight down.

Merc forged an alliance with Japanese firm Toray Industries to develop the parts. Toray is the world’s biggest maker of carbon fiber.

So at least this ends all speculation and it’s pretty much of a given, really. Mercedes F1 boss Norbert Haug confirmed that the split of the McLaren-Mercedes F1 team was due to McLaren’s decision to pursue its development of the MP4-12C supercar.

The move prompted to get Mercedes to buy out Ross Brawn’s team and redub it Mercedes GP.

While the team might have been split, the partnership doesn’t fully dissolve since Mercedes is committed to supply McLaren with F1 engines until 2015. And even that can be extended.

“McLaren wanted to go in their own direction with their street sports car. At Mercedes we have been doing it for many years. It (McLaren’s) was not our way and we found an amicable solution,” Haug said.

Yup. Even Merc acknowledges that people need to move other people people as well. Here’s the picture for the updated Mercedes-Benz R-class.

Too bad for whoever’s heading their MPV section, the R-class has proven to be a sales disappointment so far. But Merc has opted to keep the R-class and give it some new styling in hopes of making it more appealing to the consuming public.

The styling changes include a new front end, new headlights, grille, and bonnet design. The bumper and tail lights also get very minor changes.

The car, however, will get minimal mechanical tweaks. The car retains its lineup of engines. Only the R350 with the 3.5L will get tweaks to enhance the power output a bit and lower its emissions rating.

The car is set to be seen at the upcoming New York motor show.

AMG has always been responsible for giving Mercedes’ old man cars more punch to make the younger crowd want one. Now here’s an engine that’s AMG unveiled as part of their AMG Performance 2015 buildup – a 5.5L V8 twinturbo engine.

The engine dishes out supercar-esque range of 544 to 571 hp with a max torque range of 590 to 664 lb-ft of torque. Those might not be the most powerful figures that ever came out of AMG but those figures aren’t exactly weak either. Those can easily match many supercars in the power and torque category.

The engine will debut this summer and will be seen in the new S63 AMG where the engine will be mated to AMG’s SPEEDSHIFT MCT 7-speed transmission. That enables the car to zoom from 0 to 62 mph in just 4.4 seconds and go all the way up to 186 mph.

The car’s quite economical too for an engine that huge, AMG claims that it can get 22 mpg. We think that’s probably only if the driver doesn’t floor the engine as much.

I really wonder why some automakers still want to squeeze in something in between the segments in their marketing line. Here’s Mercedes with their new sport range.

The MercedesSport will be launched at the Geneva motor show and will be available for various models. The initial rollout will be on the E-Class. All current E-Class models will have the MercedesSport options with a variety of mechanical upgrades and styling biys.

For the mechanical upgrades, MercedesSport offers a sports suspensions kit and a sports bake system. Styling upgrades include roof and rear spoilers, diffusers and black 18-inch rims. The interior can get sports treatment as well with stainless steel pedals and leather steering.

Mercedes has yet to reveal all the goodies that come with their new sports range but we can only expect these details to be clearer by launch date.

Safety cars might not be as fast as Formula 1 cars, but they could be as powerful as heck. Meet the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Official Safety Car for the 2010 Formula 1 Season.

This is officially the most powerful F1 safety car of all time. The car is powered by a 6.2L V8 that dishes out 563 hp and a max torque of 479 lb-ft. The engine is mated to an AMG Speedshift DCT 7-speed transmission. With that much power, the car can sprint from 0 to 62 mph in just 3.7 seconds and go all the way to 196 mph.

While it’s supposed to be not a good thing if the safety car comes out, it’d be interesting to see how well the safety car will be able to keep pace when it does need to go out.

And with those gullwing doors, whoever said a safety car has to be boring?

Check out this stunning new concept car that Mercedes-Benz will be bringing to the Geneva motor show – the Mercedes F800 Style. The car is basically a showcase of Merc’s future design language and previews the upcoming CLS.

The car is a “multi-drive” platform” meaning that it will be able to accommodate different powerplants. It will be powered by a choice between two green powerplants – a hydrogen fuel cell and a plug-in hybrid.

The hydrogen fuel cell is powered by a 100kW motor that develops 214 lb-ft of torque. It offers a 375-mile range and offers real 0-emissions driving.

The plug-in hybrid is composed of a 299 bhp 3.5L V6 gasoline engine paired with an 80 kW electric motor which are mated to a seven-speed ‘box.

The car’s basically a four-door coupe with space inside for five people. It’d be interesting to see how Merc will be moving forward with these technologies and the design language as well.

And that’s basically it, fellow gearheads. Green is the color of inevitability.

Michael Schumacher thinks that his team – Mercedes GP – has a great chance to clinch the title this season. Schumacher thinks that the new car has got what it takes to give every team a real competition.

This is despite finishing 8th fastest in the 2nd round of tests in Spain. He managed to be the third fastest in the 1st round of tests. Still, that shows that the old dog has a lot of bite and give the younger pups a lesson out on the track.

Schumacher officially comes out of retirement this season teaming up again with Ross Brawn with whom he has previously teamed up in Benetton and Ferrari team and won championships.

His 2009 comeback (supposedly filling in for the injured Felipe Massa for Ferrari) was trumped by his motorcycle injuries sustained earlier in the year. Schumacher now claims to be in tip-top condition for the full season.

So the maestro’s back and Schumacher fans will just be delighted that he’s back on the field. At 41, Schumacher will be the oldest driver racing this coming season.

Critics have been saying that it’s a bad move for Schumacher to come out of retirement. History hasn’t really been kind to Michaels who have tried making comebacks after winning it all. (Michael Jordan comes to mind.)

Ross Brawn would not have any of that though as he’s convinced that Schumacher will become champion. Brawn was instrumental to Schumacher’s championships with Benetton and Ferrari. Whether the reforged partnership in Mercedes GP would bring Schumacher more gold will be one of the greatest stories this season.

Maybe Brawn needs to keep in mind that he’s betting on his number two driver in Schumacher. He wouldn’t want to demoralize his number one driver (Nico Rosberg), right?

Mercedes-Benz had something interesting to show attendees of the Detroit Motor Show. Would’ve been better if it wasn’t a “sculpture.”

Dubbed as the “Rising Car,” the sculpture showcases a car’s form rising from what seems to be a level plane. Pretty much like a plastic mold of a big toy car actually in my philistinic view.

Now rumors have it that the car previews the upcoming 2011 CLS and given the sculpture’s lines and the spyshots that are available on the web, it most likely is.

Earlier rumors say that the car will most likely use the E-Class’ engine lineup which includes a 3.5L V6 and a 5.5L V8. Though the juicier bit is that the car will feature a hybrid powertrain.

Looks like automakers won’t take too long to preview their Detroit Motor Show showcases.

This here’s the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabriolet which will be made available as a 2011 model. It will be the fourth E-Class variant. The E-Class lineup already includes a sedan, a coupe and the mad E63 AMG.

The car is powered by a series of engines that include the 3.5L V6 that dishes out 268 hp and the 5.5L V8 that dishes out 382 hp.

No performance figures on the car yet but provided that cabrios are heavier than their hardtop counterparts, we can all expect that the car to be slower than the Coupe E-Class.

The soft top retracts in 20 seconds. The car also boasts of a safety features that include seven airbags, active headreasts, and even a drowsiness detection system.

Source: Motor Authority

zIt’s all part of product development. Some models will be phased out and new ones will replace them. Such life cycles have been part of the automotive industry and it has worked well.

It’s basically a two-fer for Merc. The German automaker will be phasing out the CLC saloon in favor of a new two-door C-class by 2011. The coupe will also take on the CLK’s role in the lineup.

“We went back and studied what made our coupes so popular in the past. If you look at some of the more successful two door models Mercedes-Benz has produced you can see a direct relationship between them and their four door stable mates,” an inside source told Autocar.

This car will have a short life span though as it is currently being developed using the current C-class platform. Merc is set to work on the next-gen platform soon. It’s just something to fill in the gaps to be left by two cars.

With the end of Mercedes-Benz’s partnership with McLaren, we also saw the final run of the SLR McLaren. Not exactly the best supercar in our opinion but that’s one supercar for the history books.

At least Mercedes is kind enough develop this SLS AMG which somehow fills the slot left by the SLR McLaren until the next performance-topping Merc comes out.

The car’s powered by a 6.3L V8 engine that dishes out 571 horses and 479 lb-ft of torque. The engine’s mated to AMG’s Speedshift dual-clutch seven-speed gearbox complete with flappy paddles.

The powertrain lineup allows the car to go from naught to 62 mph in just 3.8 seconds and then go all the way to 197 mph. Just a few shy of supercar nirvana. Not exactly as fast as the SLR, but it’ll do.

Formula One defending champion Lewis Hamilton was at hand to unveil the car.

If you think that the S-Class is just a car for industrialists and top government officials (war and crime lords included) to be driven in, then this might be an S-class that any one greedy with power would like to drive himself.

Meet the Brabus SV12 R – it’s basically a Mercedes S-class that packs 740 bhp. The power comes from a 6.3L twin-turbo V12. Brabus slapped on a new crankshaft, forged pistons, a new ECU and a stainless steel exhaust. The engine generates so much torque that they even had to limit it to 811 lb-ft.

That allows the car to go from standstill to 62 mph in just 4.0 seconds quite an amazing feet given that the car wasn’t put on a diet. The top speed is in supercar nirvana range at 211 mph and even that’s limited.

To help the car stop, Brabus fitted the car with a high-performance braking system which features a set of 12-piston calipers up front with vented and cross-drilled discs.

Menacing.

Source: World Car Fans

Mercedes engineers have dismissed the significance of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) technology for road car applications, after the McLaren Mercedes Formula One team technicians demonstrated the system currently being used for F1 competition.

“The mechanical fly wheel system had absolutely no relevance to road car use, and while the electrical system could be adapted to our needs, it would need to be modified very heavily before it was relevant,” said a source from the road car engineer team. “I don’t believe there is much in common between KERS and our goals on the road car side. It is very interesting technology, but I don’t believe there is a future for it in road car applications.”

“How KERS works is irrelevant,” according to McLaren managing director Anthony Sheriff. “What’s important is that it’s pushing the envelope of battery technology to its limits and that has got to be good news.”

While the F1 teams are developing KERS with road-car applications in consideration, only Jaguar is the only non-F1 automaker to publicly declare the development of its own KERS system for use in consumer vehicles.

Source: Autocar

Images of two new Mercedes S-Class AMG variants, the S63 and S65, have been leaked ahead of the cars’ scheduled Shanghai Auto Show debut. This happened when images of the cars were made available on the Mercedes online car configurator.

The cars look to have deep front spoilers along with LED strips and a centrail air intake. To differentiate between the two, the S65 sports three double strips up front, while the S63 has four thin strips. The cars also have quad exhaust pipes at the rear, complementing a new bumper and Led-equipped tail lights.

The S63 will likely have a 6.2-liter V8 that goes for 511 brake horsepower at 465 lb.-ft. of torque. The S65, on the other hand, uses a 6.0-liter V12 with an output of 596bhp at 738 lb.-ft. of torque.

The hot S-classes, as seen in the leaked images, should provide something a little less discreet than the past S-class offerings from AMG. We’ll see if the leaks are true to the real thing when Mercedes Benz releases official images and when both the S-Class AMGs break cover when the Shanghai Auto Show opens.

Source: Autocar

The New York Auto Show featured quite a number of automakers and it’s quite interesting how there seems to be more European and Asian features than US cars. Mercedes-Benz fielded a few vehicles like this one here – the 2010 E63 AMG.

AMG do not seem to have done much to make the E63 AMG any much different from the old dog as this new one only trumps the old one in the power department by squeezing 11 more horses out of the 6.3L V8. The engine is mated to the AMG SPEEDSHIFT MCT 7-speed sports transmission.

Still, that power propels the 2010 model from naught to sixty in just 4.4 seconds with an electronically-limited top speed of 155 mph. That is still pretty menacing for a four-door car.

The car also gets a greening treatment with its fuel consumption cut by as much as 12%. The 2010 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG will be made available to buyers later this year.

Source: Mercedes-Benz

The new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG “Gullwing” will roll off to showrooms within the first half of 2010, and Mercedes has released details, sketches, and interior shots of the upcoming sports car as part of the lead-off to its official release.

The SLS AMG, developed exclusively by the MB’s in-house tuning firm AMG, will be powered by AMG’s revised 6.2-liter V8. The engine has a new magnesium intake, two electronically-controlled throttle plates, a high-flow exhaust, and a dry-sump lubrication system. Maximum power is at 571 horsepower with 479 lb.-ft. of torque. The engine will be fitted to a new 7-speed dual-clutch rear-mounted transmission.

An aluminum spaceframe material is used for the body of the SLS AMG. The car will sport an advanced suspension design, including double wishbones and forged-aluminum hub carriers. The interior shows premium-grade materials, including nappa leather and optional carbon-fiber facings, as well as a new dashboard with silver accents for the controls.

The SLS AMG will challenge other high-end sports cars like the Lamborghini Gallardo and the Ferrari F430. Sources say 3,000 to 5,000 units of the car will be produced annually.

Source: Motor Authority

Here’s a hint at the impact the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG brings: It was already awarded as reader’s choice best sports car by Germany’s Sport Auto magazine—a month away from its debut. With the award comes a teaser image that shows a partial front fascia of the performance saloon.

The teaser image shows the E63 AMG’s car covers playfully raised up a little to show the front design of the car. It shows that the car has a new bumper up front, along with new alloy wheels. It also shows that the vehicle is equipped with some nasty cross-drilled brake discs.

Set to debut at the New York Auto Show in April, the E63 AMG is expected to possess power in the neighborhood of 525 horsepower, courtesy of the line’s 6.2-liter V8 engine. The vehicle’s design focuses on optimizing handling as well as chassis strength for improved all-around performance.

We expect more details about the E63 AMG to be revealed sometime soon, as the clock runs down to the start of the New York Auto Show. Until then, guys, you’ll just have to make do with the teaser.

Source: Motor Authority

Meet the replacement for the SLR line: the new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. Under the SLS’ hood lies a 6.3-liter V8 engine made by high-performance division Mercedes AMG, which puts the power output at 563 brake horsepower. The top speed is a good 200 mph, and 0-62 mph acceleration is pegged at 3.8 seconds.

The SLS AMG will reportedly sport a new 7-speed double-clutch transmission system. The car also makes extensive use of lightweight aluminum for the body. All of these help the car clock in at 3.8 seconds when accelerating from 0 to 62 mph and get a top speed of 196 mph.

“Mercedes-Benz is presenting an exhilarating super sports car in the guise of the new SLS AMG,” said Dieter Zetsche, Daimler CEO. He added that it “is bound to set the pulses of all car enthusiasts racing that extra bit faster. The SLS AMG is emotion pure and simple for the Mercedes-Benz brand and is set to become one of the most alluring sports cars of our era.”

With its aspiration for “perfect driving mechanics”, we all welcome that extra heart-racing action. Of course, most of us most likely can’t afford one, anyway.

Source: eMercedesBenz

Mercedes-Benz has is now testing the company’s first fuel-cell hybrid bus model, the Citaro FuelCELL Hybrid, equipped with a diesel-electric hybrid powertrain and intended to make the buses of the future as clean and green as possible.

The major fleet test will allow Mercedes-Benz to monitor the buses’ performance in normal operating conditions. The new fuel-cell system in the Citaro hybrid buses use a new system developed from key components of the Citaro G Bluetec Hybrid’s drivetrain.

The importance of the research is reflected in the same kind of fleet test conducted on a fleet of previous Citaro models fitted with fuel-cell drive systems as well as the CUTE fleet test between 2003 and 2006 that gave excellent findings on the sustainability of the fuel-cell drives. Additionally, the output of the current research can also be used in the development of alternative drive systems for passenger cars.

It’s good to see that manufacturers aren’t just limited to making their cars green and eco-friendly. Now we’re seeing hybrid tractors and hybrid buses with practically the same level of attention given by their parent companies.

Source: Benz Insider