In the lead up to the first ever Formula 1 night race, the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team have been busy preparing their car for the difficulties the Singapore Grand Prix will hold. They’ve released a teaser video so you can see how they’re getting on. Make sure you tune in to your favourite broadcaster next Sunday, 28 September, to see how these modifications go.
Tag: Mercedes-Benz
Happy 50th birthday to Mercedes-Benz Australia! July 1958 marked the introduction of the Mercedes-Benz brand to Australia. From humble beginnings back in the late 50s Australia is now the world’s tenth largest market for the brand. Along the way the three pointed star has claimed three Wheels Car of the Year gongs and is on track to sell 30,000 cars in 2008.
Mercedes-Benz Australia’s full press release for this announcement follows. It’s actually quite an interesting potted history.
Staggering. That’s probably the best way to describe the performance figures of the Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series. Peak power from the 6.0 V12 is 493kW (670hp) and torque is electronically limited to 1000Nm. Helped along by a couple of turbos the SL65 Black is good for a sub four second sprint to 100km/h and further electronic limiting reigns in the top speed to a lazy 320km/h (200mph).
See below for the press release and more images of this coupé that is certainly no shrinking violet. The styling is wild, slightly over the top, but it still looks great. Click on each picture for a 2000px super image.
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Top Gear – Series 11, Episode 2
Episode 2 of Top Gear’s Series 11 aired in the UK last night and the show closed with this great clip of Jeremy Clarkson behind the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz AMG CLK Black Edition. The episode began with a comparison between the new Subaru Impreza STi and the latest Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. Richard Hammond took the twin turbo V10 572bhp Audi RS6 to the French alps. A couple of dudes from Spooks were pitted against each other in the Chevy Lacetti. And the Top Gear Stuntman tried to recreate a James Bond movie stunt.
All standard Top Gear fare, but this in no way demeans the lads’ efforts. As Jeremy said in closing his AMG film, this episode embodies the show’s raison d’etre, presenting “the absolute joy of driving a great car, on a great road”. See you next week!
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2008 Mercedes-Benz C Class Estate
Current Wheels Car of the Year, the Mercedes-Benz C Class, has a new stable mate sharing the showroom floor in the form of the new C Class Estate. For those of you reading this that do not realise just how cool Euro wagons are, trust me. Think of Euro wagons as the Dunlop Volley of the automotive world. You’re probably thinking terms such as ‘daggy’, ‘unfashionable’ and a bit ‘pointless’. If that is you, then I am sorry to say, you could not be more wrong. You just are. Euro wagons are the business and this new C Class Estate further enhances that fact.
The new Benz wagon is available in three models, a supercharged four-cylinder C 200 Kompressor Estate (available now), a turbo-diesel C 220 CDI Estate and the cool enough to make hell freeze over high-performance C 63 AMG Estate (both available from September 2008). Just like the Saloon, the Estate version of the new C Class has been awarded an Environmental Certificate, which attests to the environmentally-oriented development process as conforming to the international ISO standard. Try fooling your mates over an organic soy latte that any petrol powered SUV has any bona fide environmental credentials. But, an AMG Estate, well, that’d be enough to make Alan Partridge cower into a quivering mess of denial.
GoAuto are reporting that Audi Australia has now been confirmed as the third major German manufacturer to withdraw from October’s Australian International Motor Show (AIMS) in Sydney. Only Volkswagen remain confirmed, with BMW, Mercedes-Benz and now Audi pulling the plug. BMW subsidary MINI has not had an official presence at either the Sydney or Melbourne shows for some time.
In our relatively small market it is no surprise that Audi has cited the costs of major stands at the Melbourne and Sydney motor shows as the main issue behind their decision.
From GoAuto: “The top three German makers in Australia are all lobbying for such an alternating arrangement on the basis of cost (a single motor show exhibit can cost anywhere between $300,000 and $1 million), but say the retail focus of smaller shows like Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide actually cover their own costs.”
As you can imagine the thought of rotating shows hasn’t gone down well with the organisers of AIMS, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, or the Melbourne International Motor Show promoters, the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce.
Click HERE to read the GoAuto article in full.