Daimler AG and Robert Bosch GmbH have agreed to join forces to develop and manufacture electric motors for Mercedes-Benz and Smart cars. The 50:50 joint venture company will be called EM-motive GmbH, with headquarters and manufacturing facilities in Hildesheim plus an engineering site located close to the parent companies in the Stuttgart area.

Some 100 employees are expected to start working for EM-motive from the fourth quarter of this year. Production is scheduled to begin in 2012 and the motor will debut in the full electric version of the new-generation Smart ForTwo, which goes on sale early next year. The electric motor will also be sold to interested parties, something Bosch will handle.

“Like lithium-ion batteries, electric motors are key components for our electric vehicles. It is extremely important that competence in this field is maintained in Germany. In joining forces with Bosch, we have now teamed up with a long-standing partner, and are confident that this move will lead to outstanding results,” said Prof. Dr. Herbert Kohler, VP of e-drive & Future Mobility in Group Research & Advanced Engineering and Chief Environmental Officer of Daimler.

This JV is expected to churn out more than 1 million electric motors by 2020.

Driving a stock Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG, Mauro Calo has set a new world record for the longest car drift at the Mercedes-Benz World in Surrey, UK. Calo smashed the existing world record by 394 metres, drifting a total distance of 2,308 metres to add his name to the record books.

To achieve the record breaking distance, Calo chose part of the Handling Circuit at Mercedes-Benz World – the circuit provided a complete 360 degree circle of tarmac which saw him complete almost eight laps.

Calo, a precision stunt driver and senior driving specialist for Mercedes-Benz and McLaren SLR, broke the record set in 2009 by 2010 Formula Drift champion Vaughan Gittin Jr.

Mercedes-Benz has released pics and details of its next gen M-Class SUV, which will premiere at the Frankfurt show. They’ve taken the evolutionary route in terms of styling, which masks the fact that this M-Class rides on new underpinnings. No major change in recipe too – the ML still sits five in two rows.

Although the new car’s 2,915 mm wheelbase is unchanged, it’s 24 mm longer, 16 mm wider and 19 mm lower than the car it replaces. But at 4,804 mm long and 1,926 mm wide, the Merc is still 53 mm shorter than rival BMW X5, which is also slightly (7 mm) wider. Because of the familiar proportions and design, the ML is immediately recognisable as one. Perhaps Merc surveys showed that most are happy with the current looks.

What’s clearly all new is the cabin design, a big upgrade from the dated dash of the current car. The elements are the same, but the housing isn’t. As you can see here, it also looks very luxurious with a leather bound dash top, matte finish wood trim and quilted hide on the seats and door cards.

Three engines will be offered at launch, including a small four-cylinder diesel unit. It’s a twin-turbo 2.1-litre oil burner in the ML 250 Bluetec that produces 204 PS and 500 Nm of torque. That’s very impressive as it’s just 41 PS and 40 Nm short of the X5 30d despite displacing almost one litre less. For something we know, the N47D engine in the F10 520d does 184 hp and 380 Nm. Combined with stop-start and brake energy recuperation, the ML 250 Bluetec achieves 28% better economy than the current six-pot ML 300 CDI.

A step up is the ML 350 Bluetec with a 3.0L V6 diesel engine. This one has 258 PS and 619 Nm of torque. This should be good for a 7.5-second 0-100 km/h run before topping out at 224 km/h.

For the petrol fans in America and Asia, the ML 350 BlueEfficiency comes with a 3.5-litre V6 engine that pushes out 306 PS and 370 Nm of torque. A twin-turbo V8 powered ML63 AMG is in the works, as is a diesel hybrid. The latter will add an electric motor to the 2.1L diesel in the ML 250 Bluetec to make it the eco champ of the range. Autocar UK’s sources say that the hybrid will have 19.2 km/l economy.

All engines are paired to Merc’s 7G-Tronic Plus seven-speed automatic transmission and an AWD system. There’s also selective damping suspension and the optional Airmatic self-leveling air suspension plus Active Curve System with dynamic roll stabilisation. All these chassis tricks are controlled by knobs between the seats.

Full gallery after the jump.
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More photos of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster have come about, as well as further details on features and kit. The vehicle, which rolls in at 1,660 kg (40 kg more than the Coupé), is of course due to make its official debut in Frankfurt in September before beginning to enter European markets before the year is out.

The car wears the same 6.3 litre V8 engine as the Coupe, and with the AMG Speedshift DCT 7-speed sports transmission in attendance, offers comparable performance – the 571 hp and 650 Nm on call offers a 0-100 kph sprint time of 3.8 seconds and an electronically-limited 315 kph top speed.

The fabric soft top, which can be opened and closed in 11 seconds while on the move at up to 50 kph, will come in three colour choices – black, red and beige, to suit the nine exterior and eight interior colours available for the vehicle. Boot capacity is 173 litres, just three litres less than the Coupe version, and this is the same with the roof open or closed.

As for interior trim, owners will be able to pick from the finest leather, matt-finished solid metal or optional, real carbon-fibre trim. Standard issue on the SLS AMG Roadster include black designo leather, AMG sports seats with heating, a slot-in glass draught-stop, Comand APS with DVD player, anti-theft alarm system with tow-away protection and interior monitoring, Thermotronic luxury automatic climate control and Keyless-Go start.

Single-tone or two-tone designo leather in espresso brown is available as a new interior colour – this dark shade of brown matches an optional new metallic paint finish called AMG Sepang brown. Leather-lined roll-over bars with integrated mesh in a “Silver Shadow” look are available with the optional designo Exclusive leather, and ambient lighting is integrated into the optionally available, electrically folding exterior mirrors.

Other available options include the Airscarf system, integrated into the backrests of the AMG sports seats, and a Bang & Olufsen BeoSound AMG surround sound system, as well as an Android-based AMG Performance Media system, replete with vehicle telemetric data displays and high-speed mobile internet access.

In addition to the standard-fit AMG seven-spoke light-alloy wheels, 5-twin-spoke wheels and weight-optimised 10-spoke forged wheels – painted in matt black with a high-sheen rim flange – are on the options list, and the SLS AMG Roadster wears 265/35 19-inch front and 295/30 rear 20-inch rear tyres, with a tyre pressure monitoring system fitted as standard. Large gallery after the jump.
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Concerns about emissions and economy won’t be going away anytime soon, and small cars are becoming the new battleground for luxury brands. Mercedes-Benz is set to refresh its compact assault with new A and B-Class models; the latter is set to debut first at this year’s Frankfurt show, one year ahead of the new A. Tasked with luring younger buyers, the B will be armed with gadgets from segments above.

The redesigned B-Class will be available with safety and entertainment gadgets, such as a radar-controlled collision prevention system and in-car Internet, when it goes on sale this year, said Hans Engel, chief engineer for the B-Class. “They will have lots of technology that wasn’t available in this segment before,” he said, adding that the new B will use engines from the C-Class range, which is an upgrade from today’s B engines.

Besides that, Mercedes hopes to win over young families with sportier styling and a more luxurious interior, said Anders Sundt Jensen, head of brand communication at Mercedes. But don’t expect a big change in shape, since the new car is also meant to retain current drivers of the A and B-Class with its MPV proportions and elevated seating position.

Compared to the A1/A3 and 1-er, Merc small car buyers are older, and the company wants to lower the average age. The current W204 C-Class is proof that they can pull it off. Let’s now see if this high-tech gadget strategy coupled with more dynamic styling works for the B.