To turbo or not to turbo? Apparently, this is a pertinent question resonating in the heads of decision makers and auto engineers alike at headquarters of some of the top German luxury car makers in recent times. Recent advancements in turbo technology as well as the push for fuel efficiency (for a given level of performance) by motorists - in these times of spiraling fuel prices - has brought back popularity of this age-old but much updated way of forced induction. Dr. Long S.P. guest writes for this blog today sharing with us his short test drive experience with the Mercedes Benz B200 Turbo.
Mercedes Benz is still Malaysia’s top luxury marque, according to sales figures for the first half of this year. Mercedes Benz sales went up 5%, despite sales in the luxury car segment dropping 17% in the same time period. It’s top seller was the E-class (650 units), followed by the C-class (450 units), A-class (150 units), S-class (100 units) and B-class (100 units). DaimlerChrysler Malaysia Sdn Bhd (DCM) attributed it’s success to it’s extensive product line-up as well as it’s Autohaus showrooms.
It will be interesting to see if this figures change in any way with the introduction of the more affordable CKD BMW 3-series recently. Mercedes also has the advantage over BMW in terms of product line-up, where there are no BMW competitors for models like the A-class and the B-class (shown above).
Mercedes Benz gained a design accolade earlier this month when it’s Mercedes Benz R-Class won the best of the best Red Dot Design Award, one of the most prestigious awards of it’s kind worldwide. The Red Dot Award received 2068 entries this year, and a total of 485 products were awarded the red dot. However, the best of the best award was reserved for 36 outstandard products, and the Mercedes Benz R-class is part of the ranks. Other Red Dot Design award winners include Nokia’s Nokia 8800 mobile phone and LG’s design team who won Design Team of the Year.
The Mercedes Benz R-class is a six-seater sports touring SUV (IMHO, funky speak for ‘minivan’) offering a host of poweful engines producing from 224hp up to 306hp. There are also AMG versions, with the R63 AMG giving you 510 horses to play with from it’s 6.3 liter V8 AMG engine. The R-class was one of the first Mercedes Benz together with the CLS to feature Mercedes’ new muscular design with sculpted side profiles and all that jazz. The car features Mercedes Benz 4MATIC all-wheel drive, air suspension at the rear and a 7-speed 7G-Tronic slushbox.
Mercedes Benz has unveiled AMG kits for the Mercedes Benz CL-class. Other than being offered standard on the AMG-tuned CL55 and CL65, it will also be offered to buyersof the CL500 and CL600 as an optional add on. The kit comprises of a redesigned front bumper as well as front, rear and side skirts. You also get nice 19 inch AMG alloy rims, an upgrade from the 17 inches on the CL500 and the 18 inches on the CL600. The new front bumper is sportier, with large air intakes flanked by a pair of fog lamps. More photos after the jump.
Mercedes-Benz has officially revealed the new Mercedes Benz CL-class luxury coupe. The CL-class is a two-door coupe based on the Mercedes Benz S-class, and you know the world is starting to get ridiculous when I have to specifically say a coupe is two-door in order not to confuse it with “four-door coupes” like the Mercedes Benz CLS. More details after the jump.
EON has been in talks with DaimlerChrysler and some of it’s unit companies for a distributorship here in Malaysia. The talks are centered on distributing cars with engine capacities of more than 2 liters. DaimlerChrysler currently has the following marques under their umbrella: Mercedes Benz, Maybach, smart, Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep. They used to own a stake in Mitsubishi as well but disposed of it not too long ago.
DRB-HICOM who is leading the distributorship talks already assembles and distributes Mercedes cars here in Malaysia, and smart’s engine capacities are below 2 liters. That leaves Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep. Perhaps we might be able to see a 2.4 liter Dodge Stratus or new Jeeps being officially brought in. The new Jeep Compass looks good. Or this could be a new Mercedes distributorship.
Ever wonder how the Smart ForTwo would fare in a car accident? Sure the car looks small and fragile, but apparently it has good passenger protection because of it’s Safety Cell unibody. An independant German team did an experiment, orchestrating a simple head-on collision between a Smart ForTwo and a Mercedes Benz S-Class to see what would happen. What I really want to see though is a collision between a Smart ForTwo and an SUV. Video after the jump.
DaimlerChrysler Malaysia is reducing the prices of it’s CKD Mercedes Benz luxury cars across the board in the range of 6.5% to 10%, with immediate effect.
DCM CEO Datuk Frank Steinleitner gave some examples of the new prices to the press. The Mercedes Benz C180K previously selling for RM255,800 would now cost RM233,888. The Mercedes Benz E240K which was previously selling at RM428,000 is now selling for RM388,000.
Mercedes Benz CKD cars are assembled by DaimlerChrysler Malaysia at it’s plant in Pekan, Pahang. Datuk Steinleitner also said that prices of it’s CBU Mercedes Benz would increase significantly as soon as the current stock is sold out. People lucky enough to consider a CBU Mercedes Benz should take note of this and expediate your purchase as soon as possible.
A souped up S-class. Sometimes you wonder why such monsters are even made, as the typical owner of a Mercedes Benz S-class would be chauferred around in the back seat instead of driving the car. There’s just not much point to it. But that’s not stopping it to be done. Yup, they do it just because they can, and because people will pay for it. This is the Brabus S V12 S Biturbo, derived from the new 2006 Mercedes Benz S600.
Want to see how fast an F1 car is compared to road cars? This video pitches a West Mclaren Mercedes F1 car driven by David Coulthard against a Mercedes Benz E50 and a Mercedes Benz A160. The road cars are given a big head start. Can the F1 car catch up? Video is after the jump!
EON has been in talks with DaimlerChrysler and some of it’s unit companies for a distributorship here in Malaysia. The talks are centered on distributing cars with engine capacities of more than 2 liters. DaimlerChrysler currently has the following marques under their umbrella: Mercedes Benz, Maybach, smart, Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep. They used to own a stake in Mitsubishi as well but disposed of it not too long ago.
DaimlerChrysler Malaysia is reducing the prices of it’s CKD Mercedes Benz luxury cars across the board in the range of 6.5% to 10%, with immediate effect.
