Archive for Mercedes Benz

Mercedes-Benz has updated the original 4-door coupe that started it all - this new trend of calling 4-door vehicles “coupes”. Some may argue that the CLS is nothing more than 4 seater E-Class, it does have its fans and thus justifies its inclusion in the line-up.

The new facelifted 2008 model year CLS features a new grille, a new rear bumper, LED tail lamps, trapezoidal tailpipes, new side mirrors with LED indicator lights, restyled alloy wheels, and a new entry level model.

The entry level model will now be the Mercedes-Benz CLS 280 featuring a 3.0 liter V6 engine putting out 231 horsepower and 300Nm of torque. Other models include the turbodiesel V6 CLS 320 CDI, the direct injection CLS 350 CGI, the V8-powered CLS 500, and the top of the range CLS 63 AMG.

The interior gets a new three spoke leather-wrapped steering wheel, and the instrument cluster now has a white-faced dials. The interior features the new NTG 2.5 telematics generation interface to control the in-vehicle entertainment. There are a few “grades” to chose from: Audio 20, Audio 20 CD with CD changer, Audio 50 and Audio 50 APS with DVD changer and LINGUATRONIC voice control. All have 5-inch colour screens, and the COMAND APS has a 6.5 inch colour display.

When the facelift is launched in Malaysia, the baseline model will continue to be the Mercedes Benz CLS 350 as the CLS 280 is only available in left hand drive configuration.

More photos after the jump.

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Mercedes Benz has released a teaser visual of the new Mercedes-Benz CLC-Class coupe that shows quite clearly the front design of the car.

The Mercedes-Benz CLC-Class itself will be unveiled at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin, which takes place from the 27th to 31st of January 2008.

The teaser photo shows a black Mercedes-Benz CLC-Coupe equipped with the sports package and 18 inch alloy wheels. Click the photo on the left to reveal a higher resolution image.

The baseline model will be the Mercedes-Benz CLC200K, putting out 184 horsepower from its supercharged 1.8 liter.

When Mercedes-Benz first registered the CLC trademark back in May 2006, some speculated it could be a convertible version of the Mercedes-Benz CL-Class. Now it is clear that the CLC is more like a C-Class coupe instead.

For those who want to know, the beautiful lady in the image is Eva Padberg, a Mercedes-Benz fashion brand ambassador. The photographer is Ellen von Unwerth.

One more photo after the jump.

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It’s no secret that the Mercedes Benz Vision GLK FREESIDE is a near production preview of the upcoming Mercedes Benz GLK-Class, a compact SUV to rival the BMW X3, the Landrover LR2 and the Volkswagen Tiguan.

The name GLK has a meaning - G means a cross country vehicle (G-Wagon), L means luxury and K means Kompaktheit, which is German for compactness. Its styling looks rather butch, and there are some odd design elements, for example I do not see why they had to make the lower part of the front headlamps step down slightly inwards.

The Mercedes-Benz Vision GLK FREESIDE is powered by a 2.2 liter Bluetec inline-4 turbodiesel engine mated to a 7G-Tronic gearbox, putting out 168 horsepower.

More photos after the jump.

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The new W204 Mercedes-Benz C-Class now has an Euro NCAP score - 5 stars, thanks to its 7 airbags, seatbelt tensioners, belt-force limiters, and NECK PRO head restraints - all fitted as standard items on the European spec C-Class.

Of course, the body structure also plays an important part in the survivability of the passengers - crumple zones and such. 70% of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class’s body panels are made from state-of-the-art, high-strength steel alloys that minimise weight and maximise safety. Quadruple-skinned B-pillars and the side members absorb the bulk of any side-impact forces and channel these forces into the body structure, are made partially from ultra-high-strength, hot-formed high-tech steel.

View a video of the front impact crash test after the jump.

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Mercedes Benz has decided to develop it’s next generation Mercedes Benz A-Class and B-Class alone, without cooperation with a small car technical partner. The German company previously had talks with BMW and Fiat, but it appears that the plans for the next generation A-Class and B-Class were not “compatible” with the proposed shared platform and engine with the other car manufacturers.

The luxury carmaker will instead rely on internal efficiency measures to achieve a similiar cost-saving effect as platform sharing. The new A-Class and B-Class platform will be “a platform below the C-Class with front-wheel drive and high-mounted transverse-sited engines,” according to Daimler head Dieter Zetsche.

The Mercedes Benz B-Class will grow in size to match the likes of the Volkswagen Touran, while the A-Class is rumoured to be made more sportier, and perhaps offered as a 3-door only. A third car based on the FF platform is said to be in the works, and will be a small SUV to compete against the rumoured Audi Q3 and the confirmed BMW X1.

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Mercedes-Benz has updated their R171 second generation Mercedes Benz SLK, the car that pioneered the modern hard top convertible (there were already hard top convertibles a long time ago in the past), what Mercedes calls a vario-roof.

Major changes on the interior are the usual ones that are associated with a mid-life facelift - an updated front and rear, while the interior gets a new instrument clusters and a three-spoke sports steering wheel.

The new front bumper is much more aggressive than the pre-facelift version, divided into two prominent large gaping intakes split in the middle. The rear end now has a diffuser-style lower section that enhances the SLK’s look from the rear. Tail lights are now slightly darkened, and exhaust tips are trapezoidal in shape.

The facelifted R171 SLK gets a new NTG 2.5 audio and telematics system, making the radio, Bluetooth handsfree system and media interface easy to operate. There is also an option for the LINGUATRONIC voice-operated control system. The harman kardon Logic7 sound system has been tuned to offer a good listening experience whether the roof is up or down.

The baseline SLK200K’s 1.8 liter supercharged engine now makes more power and torque. It is now 184 horsepower, up by 21 horsepower and torque goes up from 240Nm to 250Nm.

The SLK350’s 3.5 liter V6 revs higher now, up to 6800, with an optional 7200rpm extended redline if engine parameters like oil temperature are favorable. Other enhancements to the V6 include a higher compression ratio, a new intake manifold and an improved valvetrain design. The result is 305 horsepower at 6,500rpm and 360Nm of torque at 4,900rpm - an improvement of 33 horsepower and 10Nm. The 7G-Tronic blips the throttles on downshifts.

An optional direct steer system is optional on all models and standard on the SLK55 AMG. It operates by mechanical means instead of being an electrical-based system - no actuators or complex sensors.

More photos after the jump.

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Autocar reports that the next generation W212 E-Class will be unveiled in September 2008 - less than a year from now. Once again Mercedes Benz will be trying to get a younger generation of customers, and the new car will gain more hard edged looks, like its two siblings the new S-Class and the new C-Class.

The new Mercedes Benz E-Class will also get direct injection engines for its high end engines, probably the same new direct injected 3.5 liter V6 found in the Mercedes Benz CLS350 CGI. The new lean-burn CGI engine manages a fuel consumption of 9.1 to 9.3 liters per 100km in the European driving cycle, and delivers 292 horsepower and 365Nm of torque over 3,000 to 5,100rpm - an extra 20 horsepower and 4% more torque compared to the conventionally injected 3.5 liter V6.

The torque to displacement ratio also exceeds the usual slightly below 100Nm per liter ratio for normally aspirated engines.

For Malaysians, it would be interesting to see whether the E200K replacement gets a new turbocharged engine or not… as many feel the M271 is getting abit old.

Source

Daimler AG is starting up a new turbocharging business, and aims to become Europe’s third-largest turbocharger supplier in 3 to 5 years.

The company currently gets 50% of its turbochargers from IHI Charging Systems, while the remainder is sourced from BorgWarner and Garrett. Garrett is currently the market leader in turbochargers worldwide, with its turbos holding 56% of market share, with Borgwarner coming in second at 25% and IHI at 7%, with the remaining 12% shared by various other small suppliers.

“Our dependence on the turbocharger suppliers was huge. We decided to invest in our own operation to have competition in the marketplace,” said Thomas Weber, Daimler board member for R&D.

Turbo suppliers are currently having it good because of the increase in turbo demand - most manufacturers are looking into ways to downsize engine displacement but add turbochargers. There is also a growing demand for diesel engines, of which nearly all use turbochargers in modern times. Daimler also intends to increase the use of gasoline-based turbocharged engines, in line with their latest DiesOtto concept engine.

Another company expected to join the turbocharger supply market soon is Robert Bosch GmbH - will a small turbo from Bosch end up on a Campro engine soon?

Source

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BMW’s finance director Michael Ganal has indicated to German magazine auto motor und sport that an engine collaboration between Mercedes Benz and BMW could be announced before Christmas this month.

BMW already has a successful collaboration with PSA Peugeot Citroen for the engine used in the second generation R56 MINI. This new partnership with Mercedes Benz could involve next generation small BMWs or MINIs and Mercedes Benz models such as the A-Class and the B-Class sharing a common drivetrain.

Source

Talks between Daimler and Fiat on a possible platform-sharing venture have ended with no positive results. It seems that during the talks, Daimler found out that a platform-sharing cooperation with Fiat would not be as cost-advantageous as expected because Fiat produces its small models more expensively than Daimler can already do with its A-class (shown above) and B-class.

Daimler is still in talks with BMW as previously reported, and if that does not go through it will go ahead to develop new entry-level models on its own. Mercedes-Benz has a new cost saving program called CORE and the next generation A-class and B-class will be cheaper to make than the current generation even without the savings gained from platform-sharing. But of course, more savings would definitely be a bonus.

Mercedes Benz Cars wants to make a decision on whether to go for platform-sharing or develop on its own by the end of 2007. They are also talking to Japanese manufacturers about joint usage of 4-cylinder gasoline and diesel engines - this probably means the end of the M266.

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MINI platform for next generation A-Class?