Mercedes-Benz Goes Hydrogen with F800 Style

Green is the color of inevitability. With public perception and legislation requiring automakers to cut their fleet-wide fuel consumption and emissions . Here’s part of Mercedes’ showcase at the upcoming Geneva motor show – the F800 Style.

The car features a couple of green powertrain lineups including a hydrogen fuel cell zero-emissions 100kW motor that develops 214 lb-ft of torque. The hydrogen setup can go 375 miles in between refills. The plug-in hybrid features a 3.5L V6 gasoline engine that dishes out 299 hp and a 80 kW electric motor. Power is channeled through a seven-speed gearbox.

The car’s lines previews the future of Mercedes’ design language and serves as a teaser for the revamped CLS styling as well.

The car also packs a few other nifty technologies like the Range on Map feature on the sat-nav which shows the vehicle’s remaining range 360-degree depicted on the map and the Distronic Plus Traffic Jam Assistant which detects if the car in front pulls off and prevents the F800 from following it blindly. The F800 also features Merc’s PRE-SAFE 360 which applies the brakes if it detects possible rear-end collisions.

Formula 1: Mercedes GP W01 Unveiled

Not long after Ferrari and McLaren unveiled their new F1 race cars, here’s Mercedes GP unveiling the W01 Formula One car. And we’ll be seeing more of these in the coming days as the test sessions have begun.

Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg will be driving the car next season. Interestingly for Schumacher, this will be the first time in three years that he will be driving contemporary F1 tech. Much has changed engineering-wise with F1 cars today thanks to new rules.

Just last week, we got to see last year’s Brawn GP car use the Silver Arrows livery from the 1950s. The new car carries the same paint job.

Noticeable on the car is the nose which is reminiscent of the front-end design of Red Bull last year. Red Bull placed second in the constructor’s cup second to Brawn.

Brabus Mercedes-Benz GL 63 Biturbo

So the Mercedes GL isn’t really the type of car that you plow off the road at a whim since it’s really more of a big car for the road. So what’s the point in giving the GL a massive shot of steroids.

Well, that’s just the thing with tuners especially with the likes of Brabus. Meet the Brabus Mercedes-Benz GL 63 Biturbo.

The car’s basically a GL but has an eight-cylinder engine from the ML 63 AMG with a couple of turbos added for good measure. It’s tweaked and tuned to dish out 650 hp and up to 625 lb-ft of torque. That’s in the ball park of the Ferrari Enzo. The engine is mated to a Speedshift 7G-Tronic automatic gearbox and permanent 4WD.

However, since this is a crossover we’re talking about, the Brabus GL 63 doesn’t necessarily go like the Enzo. But it’s pretty fast and pretty quick, able to go full out at 186.4 mph and a 0-62 mph sprint in 4.7 seconds.

Since Brabus doesn’t simply tweak the engine, the car also gets a bit more styling with 23-inch forged wheels (21s and 22s) come as choices, bits and pieces for the exterior and a spiffy interior styling.

Electric Mercedes-Benz SLS Details Released

Mercedes has already announced that it is making an electric SLS supercar that they intend to launch in three year’s time.

Merc in-house tuner AMG boss Volker Mornhinweg revealed to Autocar a few updates on the car. Mornhinweg said that they are on track to meet the performance objectives – 0-62 mph in 4.0 seconds and a range of 110 miles.

This electic SLS will be powered by three batteries and the motor will be around 525 bhp (converted). A consquence though is that it will be heavier than the internal-combustion powered SLS by as much as 620 lbs.
l version.

But with the launch date still in 2013, that gives Merc engineers to fine-tune everything. Or maybe fix a glitch or two while developping the car.

Mercedes-Benz Ends SLR Run with Last Stirlong Moss Units

McLaren’s now happy with their own exclusive sports car with the MP4-12C as the British sports car maker decided to end its co-development partnership with Mercedes.

Mercedes prepares for the last hurrah of the SLR McLaren with its last few specimens of the Stirling Moss edition.

The company came out with five variants of the SLR over the past five years ever since it came out with the first SLR in 2004. The lineup now includes two coupes, two roadsters, and the Stirling Moss edition.

75 Stirling Moss units will be produced meaning 2,000 SLRs will ever be produced – a staggering number given the car’s elite hypercar status.

Source: Mercedes-Benz

Carlsson CK50: Mercedes-Benz E500 Coupe with More Punch

More tuning goodness for us. AMG, Brabus and Hamann aren’t the only ones who claim to know how to make Mercs even more powerful, German tuner Carlsson can too.

This here’s the Calrsson CK50 – a tuned and even more powerful version of the Mercedes E500 coupe.

Powering the car is a the same engine but tuned to get a 40 bhp power boost from 383 bhp to 429 bhp. This is achieved through engine tweaks and the addition of a twin-pipe stainless steel exhaust system.

To help keep the car planted, Carlsson slapped on a new coilover suspension system with adjustable dampers. The ride height has also been lowered to help it better get around corners.

Front and rear spoilers have been added for both aero and styling purposes. The car also sits on 20-inch lightweight alloy wheels.

Source: Autocar