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Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG supercar launched in India amidst month to month sales growth of 83%

July 23, 2010 at 1:39 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, International News, Mercedes Benz

Luxury automakers have it easy as they rarely have to go to their demographic to sell their wares unlike company lower down the food chain. This is more apparent in countries where owning a car is a luxury in itself, like Malaysia, or India for that matter.

Thanks to the current economic boom in India, many are aspiring to own their dream car and it’s pretty obvious it’s not going to be a Suzuki Maruti. It’s the aforementioned luxury brands such as BMW and Mercedes. Which would explain why these brands are doing so well in the country,

The figures don’t lie as the German company recently posted record sales which rose by 69 percent in the first six months of the year, with 2,500 vehicles being delivered to customers. This is quite surprising when you realise that Mercedes Benz sold just 3500 in 2009. June 2010 alone saw a rise of 83 percent.

“Sales substantially exceeded our expectations in the first half of 2010, supported in particular by the success of the new E-Class. We are currently the strongest premium brand in India and we want to build on our success in the second half of the year and expand our market position. As was the case in the first six months, we are also aiming to achieve record sales for the full year 2010.”

So well that, Mercedes has even made the SLS AMG available to prospective Crore-aires. The price? Between 2 to 2.5 Crore, depending on what you kit it with. 2.5 Crore is just 1.7 million Malaysian Ringgit, so basically the Indians are getting it cheaper than us. Malaysian multi-millionaires can get one for about RM 2 million.

Funny thing is some Indian news sites are claiming that they are the first in the world to get the SLS AMG but I clearly remember that it was launched in Malaysia first just before the 2010 Malaysian GP?

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Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG updated for 2011MY

July 22, 2010 at 10:38 am By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, International News, Mercedes Benz

Mercedes-Benz have released details of the 2011 E63 AMG, which comes with a few revisions. One of them being the increase of power from the 6.2 litre V8 engine which now produces 11hp more, making it 525hp in total. Which is actually pretty small in the grand scheme of things.

Not that you’d be able to feel the power hike, but I’m sure the fuel efficiency increase of 12 percent will be easier on the wallet. This produces a fuel consumption figure of 12.6 litres for every 100km travelled which has been made possible with a braking recuperation system and the use of an AMG twin-wire arc spray coating process used on the cylinder walls of the engine.

The E63 AMG gets the AMG SPEEDSHIFT MCT 7-speed sports transmission also seen in the SL 63 AMG. Performance figures haven’t changed with the performance saloon propelling itself to 100km/h in just 4.5 seconds going on to reach an electronically limited top speed of 250km/h.

The exterior remains the same while the interior will see the use of Artico leather for the dashboard and door panels, whereas the centre console trim around the AMG Drive unit will be finished in black piano lacquer finish, all of which are now available as standard equipment. Currently available in Europe, the E63 AMG will go for 105,791 Euros while the station wagon will go for 108,409 Euros.

You can view more hi res pics after jump.
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Mercedes S350 BlueTEC uses AdBlue for cleaner emissions

July 11, 2010 at 9:11 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, International News, Mercedes Benz

Mercedes have released details of the new S350 BlueTEC which they say is one of the cleanest diesel model in the world. Claims like this can be made because of the AdBlue emission control system which removes harmful nitrogen oxide (NO) from the exhaust fumes. AdBlue is a registered trademark of Germany’s VDA for AUS32 (Aqueous Urea Solution 32.5%). It is mixed according to a standard spec known as ISO 22241.

The S350 BlueTEC basically injects AdBlue into the exhaust flow. This releases ammonia and converts up to 80% of the NO into harmless nitrogen and water, with the help of a catalytic converter. The AdBlue tank is located under the luggage compartment floor and has a capacity of 25.7 litres which is replenished at regular maintenance intervals of 25,000 kilometres.

You may be wondering just how much replenishing your AdBlue tank costs. Consumer Reports tried refilling their BlueTEC-equipped GL-Class and was charged US$316.99 for 7.5 gallons (28 litres) of AdBlue, which comprised of a US$241.50 (about RM775 or RM28 per litre) cost for the AdBlue solution – the rest being labour, tax and other charges.

Also note that AdBlue decomposes over time in storage (it forms ammonium hydroxide and carbon monoxide), but the ISO standard calls for the process to produce AdBlue that can last at least 12 months. Considering diesel cars are typically used for high mileage travel patterns I don’t think one’s AdBlue expiring would be an issue.

Apart from improving emissions, the diesel motor is pretty fuel efficient, boasting performance figures similar to an 8 cylinder engine, while only having fuel consumption figures of a mid-sized saloon. The figure in question is that of just 6.8 litres for every 100 kilometres travelled, while producing an impressive 258hp and a spine-tingling 620Nm of torque. The torquey 3.0-litre diesel V6 engine now pushes the car to the century mark in just 7.1 seconds and has an electronically limited top speed of 250km/h.

The S-Class now comes with Lane Keeping Assist, Active Blind Spot Assist, PASSION leather package featuring Alcantara, and a Bang & Olufsen BeoSound AMG sound system. This creates a sale price of € 76,279 (about RM308k) and is on sale now in Germany. More pictures of the interior are available after the jump.
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Mercedes-Benz CL63 and CL65 AMG pictures leaked?

July 9, 2010 at 2:01 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, International News, Mercedes Benz

Not that everyone hasn’t been waiting for the official release of the CL-Class coupe, but being a high performance car, the AMG variant usually gets more attention. Courtesy of Autoblog.it, we have pictures of the CL63 AMG and the CL65 AMG.

Most important of the lot is its engine details which are still a “your guess is as good as mine” type speculation, of the CL63 which will be a 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8 that might produce 544hp along with 800Nm of earth shattering torque. The car will have 19-inch wheels along with quad exhausts.

The CL65 on the other is said to house a 6.0-litre twin-turbo V12 that will pump out 630hp along with 999Nm of torque. This will sit on 20-inch wheels and will feature oblong shaped tailpipes.

Again for more details, keep your eyes peeled to the screen, while then enjoy pictures of the two after the jump.

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Mercedes-Benz overtakes Audi in sales for first half 2010

July 8, 2010 at 8:25 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Mercedes Benz

Mercedes-Benz has passed Audi to take up the second place in terms of global luxury cars sales, at least for the first half of 2010.

Thanks mainly due to a record-setting June 2010 sales result, Mercedes-Benz’s total sales count now exceeds Audi’s by about 1,750 units. Mercedes-Benz sold 556,700 units for the first half of 2010 compared to Audi at 554,950 units.

For the first five months of the year, Audi sold more cars than Mercedes-Benz but it was the sales for June 2010 of 113,300 units that pushed the three pointed star past the quad rings. The high sales count is thanks to E-Class and S-Class models. Mercedes-Benz also recently launched a long wheelbase variant of the new W212 for the Chinese market.

In case you were wondering, BMW is in the number one spot at 585,775 units.

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2011 Mercedes CL-Class facelift officially unveiled

July 6, 2010 at 9:02 am By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, International News, Mercedes Benz

Mercedes has unveiled official pictures and information of the face lifted CL-Class luxury coupe. Set to be released in 2011, the CL as previously reported, will feature a completely revised twin-turbo 4.6-litre V8 BlueDIRECT engine that produces an impressive 435hp and 700Nm of torque. This will be housed in the CL 500 which carries the Blue EFFICIENCY name, highlighting the cars improvements in all round efficiency.

This is seen by the 12 percent power increase the current engine produces over its predecessor despite having 0.8 litres less displacement. This improves fuel efficiency to 9.5 litres per 100 kilometres. Performance has also improved, with the new V8 now propelling the car to the century mark in just 4.9 seconds, which was previously 5.4 seconds.

Other factors that improve fuel consumption in the new V8 include the incorporation of the BlueDIRECT technology along with the consistent use of friction-optimised pistons, piston rings, cylinder barrels, the on-demand control of oil pump, the new three-phase thermal management in the coolant circuit and the ECO start/stop function plus alternator control.

The top of the line CL 600 on the other hand, will have the 12-cylinder biturbo 5.5-litre engine under its hood which produces 517hp and 829 Nm of torque, propelling it it from 0 to 100km/h in just 4.6 seconds.

Helping keep all that power contained will be the usual list of award winning Mercedes safety systems along with new ones such as Active Lane Keeping Assist, Active Blind Spot Assist, Adaptive High Beam Assist, Night View Assist, Active Body Control (ABC) with crosswind stabilisation.

This keeps the CL’s new sleek body out of harms way, which as you can see has also gone through revisions which include a new grille, modified bumpers, restyled headlights (with integrated LED daytime running lights), LED fog lights, new tail lights, and a sportier exhaust system.

Moving on inside, the CL-Class gets a multifunction steering wheel that incorporates nappa leather as standard, along with the choice of various wood trims to give it that special ambience.

The COMAND system (a Mercedes equivalent of the iDrive), now features SPLTVIEW technology, which allows the driver and front passenger to view different things at the same time. It also comes with Bluetooth®, USB and SD card compatibility that plugs into a 7.2 GB hard drive for all your entertainment needs.

A picture gallery is available of the CL500 and CL600 models after the jump.
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Mercedes-Benz UK to sell tuned up C-Class DR 520 AMG

July 1, 2010 at 8:31 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Mercedes Benz

Mercedes-Benz UK is launching its new Mercedes-Benz World Brooklands Specialist Products division with a special 20 unit limited edition car – the Mercedes-Benz C-Class DR 520. It’s basically a C 63 AMG fitted with a performance upgrade that boosts power up to 520hp and 650Nm, which is a 60hp and 50Nm power up on the stock C 63 AMG, which is already packing some serious power in the first place.

The car is also equipped with the AMG Performance Pack Plus, which features AMG’s high-performance braking system with red calipers, with the addition of engine upgrades in the form of forged pistons, newly-developed connecting rods and a revised crankshaft, as well as an AMG Carbon Fibre rear spoiler for the Saloon.

The car is finished off aesthetically with a set of titanium finish alloy wheels, grille and discreet DR 520 badging on the wing and the boot lid. The car is ‘wrapped’ with either matte black or matte white, creating that ‘stealthy’ look. On the inside you get sports seats upholstered in leather and exclusive Alcantara finished with red or white contrast stitching, as is the dashboard and upper door panels.  The multi-function AMG Performance steering wheel is clad in Nappa leather and Alcantara.

The limited edition 20 unit car costs just £9,995 above the standard C 63 AMG price, which means you’ll have to fork out £62,430 OTR for the DR 520 sedan and £63,680 OTR for the wagon version. Look after the jump for a hi-res gallery of the tuned up C-Class.
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Mercedes SLS AMG Supersport Black Edition by Kicherer

June 26, 2010 at 8:12 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, International News, Mercedes Benz

Mercedes went all out in creating the supercar to replace the SLR McLaren. Drawing inspiration from the iconic 300 SL for its gullwing doors, the new SLS AMG features a thunderous 6.2-litre V8 engine which most will be in awe of.

However unlike most car enthusiasts, 563 hp and 650 Nm pulling 1.6 tonnes isn’t enough for the German tuners, or perhaps they just have to satisfy the modding itch. Mercedes experts Kicherer has this for us, the Supersport Black Edition, which should not be confused with AMG’s own flagship Black Series cars.

Changes include the usual revised ECU and a stainless steel sport exhaust system. This pushes power to 620 hp, which is 100 horses per litre. Matching the added performance is the sinister matte foil wrapped exterior, a front spoiler lip, revised diffuser, matte black exterior accents (instead of chrome), Kicherer badge on the hood and 20-inch RS-1 wheels. The car also features adjustable sports suspension.

Picture gallery after the jump.
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Mercedes-Benz CL and CL AMG facelift pictures leaked

June 17, 2010 at 6:51 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, International News, Mercedes Benz

What you see here are leaked pictures of the new facelifted Mercedes CL-Class that were obtained from the company’s Dutch website. The pictures are of the standard CL and its AMG variant which are both based on the S-Class.

In terms of design there have been modifications on the exterior as it has a new front bumper, new headlights, LED fog lights and a meaner looking front-end for the AMG variant.

Under the hood, it is said to feature a 3.5-litre V6 BlueDIRECT engine that produces 301hp with 368Nm of torque for the CL350, while the CL550 gets a new twin turbo 4.6-litre V8 BlueDIRECT engine with 429hp and an immense 700Nm of torque.

The AMG variant will blow out an incredible 537hp from its 5.5-litre bi-turbo V8 engine while producing an astounding 800Nm of torque. The V12 bi-turbo engine will likely remain untouched, still producing 612hp and 1000Nm of torque.

The new additions to the Mercedes line up will make their official debut at this year’s Paris Motor Show in October.

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MEC Design’s S65 AMG package for pre-facelift S-Class

June 11, 2010 at 10:27 am By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, International News, Mercedes Benz

The S-Class is a class act. No matter what the others say, the limo from Stuttgart is the premier choice for world leaders and industry captains – like a nice black suit, you can’t really go wrong with it. Debuting at Frankfurt 2005, the W221 S-Class underwent a facelift in 2009, which was launched here in CKD form back in February.

Not all would like the facelifted car though, which is a little more fussy in design. So how about this, a dressed up pre-facelift W221 that’s guaranteed to make you stand out (in a mafia boss kind of way). German based MEC Design morphed this “regular” S-Class into a pre-facelift S65 AMG, which is actually more fierce looking than the current AMG tuned S.

In the transformation, you get the AMG bumpers front and rear, 20-inch three piece MEC Xtreme III wheels, an adjustable electronic lowering module and a high performance quad tail pipe exhaust system. The interior is fitted with an MEC Design steering wheel and floor mats with leather edging. For the rear lights, we can see that they have changed the module to the multi-LED Christmas tree item of the facelifted car.

Now, all you need is a used S300/S350 for this project! Picture gallery after the jump.
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