amg

Just a month after lifting the veil on the new C-Class coupe, German automaker Mercedes-Benz has released its latest hot rod.

The C63 AMG Coupe brings all the hallmarks of the freshly revised for 2012 C63 AMG sedan into a two-door format. The coupe packs a 6.2-liter V8 producing 451 horsepower for a 4.4 second 0-60 time and a 155 mph top speed, or equipped with the optional AMG Development package, 481hp for a 4.3-second sprint to 60 and a 174 mph top speed.

Upgraded aerodynamics, interior, wheels, tires, brakes and suspension are also part of the vehicle slated to debut next month at the New York Auto Show in Manhattan's Javitz Center.

Like the new C-Class Coupe, the updated Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG sports sedan wasn't supposed to appear before the Geneva Motor Show. But though the exposition is still over a month away, the car has found its way onto the internet.

Updated for the new model year, the C63 is distinguished by two major changes: one is the revised styling with new headlights, tail-lights and LED daytime running lights, new 18-unch wheels and upgrade brakes. Second is the new seven-speed multi-clutch transmission for smoother and faster shifts. It remains mated to the 6.2-liter V8 engine with its 451 horsepower (or 481 with the optional performance package).

Looking for a high octane holiday gift idea? If you buy a very lucky someone a new Mercedes-Benz AMG vehicle for Christmas, they'll now get a free pass to the amazing AMG Driving Academy that we wrote about last year. If that's out of your price range you might still be able to afford them an adrenaline rush with a gift certificate to the thrilling course. In three skill levels, AMG Driving Academy provides race-tested instructors who teach drivers to train and use their reflexes for maximum driving excitement and performance on closed-off circuits. Drivers can bring their own cars, use the standard school cars or upgrade to the gull-wing SLS AMG supercar (above).

To purchase a gift certificate, visit www.AMGacademy.com/drive, select the Basic or Pro Class at the desired venue, and register the recipient. Pricing starts at $1,595. For 2011 the Academy is also adding Lime Rock Park in Connecticut as the third track in its impressive U.S. stable; the other two venues are Laguna Seca and Road Atlana. As an added bonus if you register before Jan. 15 you'll get a 20% discount.

If you are going to spend some serious dollars on a high-performance car from Mercedes-Benz AMG, then you should probably spend a few more bucks to really learn how to get the most out of that new ride. Thankfully, AMG has you covered with its Driving Academy. The AMG Driving Academy offers classes at a variety of skill levels and at race tracks including the Nurburgring Nordschliefe, Spa-Francorchamps, Road Atlanta and Laguna Seca.

Instructors for the programs include the likes of racing champions Bernd Schneider and Bernd Maylander. The class cars are fully instrumented with race car styling data logging so the instructors can review student's performance in detail. Students can bring their own cars, use the standard school cars or upgrade all the way up to the gull-wing SLS coupe.

The basic two-day training class starts at €990 and prices go up to and beyond €2,690 for the three-day advanced course. For those that want to hone their all-weather driving skills, AMG also offers a winter academy in Arjeplog, Sweden, home of Mercedes-Benz' winter test center. The four day package includes three days of training plus a fourth day for an optional snowmobile tour in the region for €3,590. The full brochure and registration forms are available at http://www.mercedes-amg.com/driving-academy/.



[Source: Mercedes-Benz]

Bigger is better, right? That's been the prevailing wisdom in the automobile market, but consumers of luxury goods know better. Case in point: the newest Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG.

For the 2011 model, Mercedes has swapped out the enormous 6.2-liter V8 for a more efficient – and more powerful – 5.5-liter twin-turbo V8 with direct injection and fuel-saving start-stop engine management, coupled to the company's latest multi-clutch transmission. The result is 571 horsepower instead of 518, a four-and-a-half second sprint to sixty and improved fuel economy. Now that's our kind of downsizing.

Think the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG is powerful enough? With 460 horses under the hood, it'd be hard to surmise otherwise. But feast your eyes on the new DR 520.

A special limited edition for the British market, the DR 520 is the product of the Mercedes Specialist Products Division headquartered at the legendary Brooklands race track in England. It benefits from a 60-horse boost to a dyno-rated 520 – hence the name. The package is completed by matte black or white finish, titanium-finish wheels and chrome, and the AMG Performance Pack Plus with upgraded brakes and engine components.

Only 20 examples will be made in either sedan or wagon body-styles, each carrying a £10k premium over stock at £62,430 or £63,680 respectively.

With the Miami Beach Polo World Cup having recently wrapped up, organizers are finally hoping to turn a profit from the sport of kings in the glitzy locale, the Miami Herald reports. A seven goal performance by Argentinean Matias Magrini lead the way for the Hublot team as it scored an exciting 11-9 victory over the previously undefeated AMG side in the finals of this year's exciting championship. After taking a loss on their first few seasons – despite the seemingly perfect convergence of sexy polo matches and the money-worshipping enclaves of South Beach – the event's producers say they'll finally be in the black when the accounting is done this time around.

The only locale in the U.S. where polo is played on sand, spectators can watch for free from the sidelines while those wanting champagne, open bar and a catered lunch pay $150 for VIP tickets in the beachside tents. Helping things along this year was Mercedes-Benz – AMG, which signed on as a sponsor and set up a track by the arena for test drives of the new SLS AMG in addition to fielding a team. With a fashion show in the VIP tent and after-parties at the Delano and Shore Club hotels, the event is designed to appeal even to those who aren't that into the sport itself. If all goes well, organizers hope to bring a polo tournament to Chicago this fall. Check out the video footage and gallery for beautiful babes, thoroughbreds, and cocktails galore.

Enticed by the Brabus Vanish, but disappointed to find out it's one-of-a-kind? Renntech is glad to help out. The Florida-based Mercedes tuner par excellence has taken on the SL65 AMG Black Series, and the results are even more impressive than those garnered by rival tuning house Brabus. Five horses more, but more nonetheless.

With a simple tweak to the engine's computer, intercooler and exhaust system, Renntech has squeezed out an extra 135 horsepower and 263 lb-ft of torque from the twin-turbo V12 for a grand total of 865 hp and 1,000 pounds of twist. The upgrade costs $16,390, which may seem like a big chunk of change, but it's a drop in the bucket against the car's quarter-million-dollar stock list price. The highly recommended upgrades to the transmission and differential will set you back a little extra, though.

Rumors of a smaller, entry-level new saloon for Mercedes-Benz's in-house tuning division AMG just won't seem to go away. As before, these latest reports suggest that the next-generation of the B-Class would be the model to get the AMG fitment, but Autocar is now suggesting that an entirely new type of engine will power the car.

The new AMG engine would reportedly be based on a turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 that is currently slated for the CLS350. The mill would be downsized to 3.2 liters and upfitted with an electrically operated pressure wave supercharger. Not too familiar with the technology? Don't fret, neither were we. The all-knowing Wiki comes to the rescue.

Autocar further posits that the engine would make somewhere around 400 horsepower and could potentially send its prodigious power output to all four wheels with a rear-biased power split. If it ever comes to fruition, the new AMG model would go up against the likes of the Volkswagen Golf R, BMW 1 Series and any other entry-level hotted-up luxe models in the works. Styling would follow the example set by the F800 Style concept from the Geneva Motor Show.



[Source: Autocar]

With something so tightly regimented as the management structure of a major German company, when you move one piece, you'll have to move several more just to keep the voids filled.

Iconic luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz has announced that one of its senior executives, Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, is being promoted to the company's management board. The position he vacates is as head of the company's van division, which in turn is being handed over to Volker Mornhinweg (pictured above left).

To take the new job, Morhinweg is departing his role as head of the AMG performance division that gives us all those wonderful Autobahn-slayers. Of course that means someone would need to take his place, and Ola Kaellenius (pictured above right) has been tapped for the job at Mercedes-Benz AMG GmbH. Kaellenius has until now been running the company's crossover plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and surely someone will need to be appointed to fill that void as well, but in the meantime Mercedes is deferring the announcement.

There are tuners, and then there are tuners. This, as they say, is the latter. Germany's Väth Automobiltechnik doesn't mess around, and this is their latest product. Starting with the already ludicrously fast Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG, Vath proceeds to significantly modify the engine with bigger cylinders, pistons, valves, cams and intake, plus retuned engine management electronics to squeeze out an extra 87 horsepower.

The resultant 605 hp is enough to rocket the four-door sedan to 62 miles per hour in 4.1 seconds and hit a claimed top speed of 211 mph. Couple that with a new aerodynamic kit, bigger brakes and a dropped suspension and you're in for one very serious run down the Autobahn.

Sometimes pairings are nothing but perfection, like the warm chocolate cake and melted chocolate heart of a moelleux au chocolat. Sometimes they don't fare so well, like when Lohan met Ungaro. And sometimes they just make you go "All right, maybe this can work...", like when IKEA paired a lamp commercial with a Bergman film.

We have no idea what Mercedes' AMG division and Cigarette racing boats will come up with together, but we have no reason to think it'll be anything but slick. They have paired to introduce a "Cigarette Racing boat inspired by AMG," which will debut at next February's Miami International Boat Show.

Specifically, the boat will pull emulate the depth of technological innovations on the gullwinged SLS AMG. While we don't expect that to mean it will use the SLS AMG's exploding door bolts -- sadly -- the "offshore racer will feature more than 100 innovations included in the design, development and rigging of the boat." And it will go more than 120 mph. That's the kind of inspiration that needs no explanation.

With 617 horsepower and a 208mph top speed, topping the Mercedes SLR McLaren was no mean feat. Mercedes nearly managed to pull it off with the new SLS AMG. The gull-winged supercar was unveiled at the recent international auto show in Frankfurt to rave reviews. But it still falls a shade short of its predecessor's bragging rights, so the German automaker is reportedly working on an even more exclusive, more powerful and more capable SLS AMG Black Series.

Following in the Black Series that has given us the SLK55, CLK63 and SL65, the SLS Black is expected to gain some extra power and lose some weight to optimize that vital power to weight ratio. Sources expect the 563hp and 479lb-ft of torque from the existing 6.2-liter V8 to get a boost past the 600hp/500lb-ft mark, coupled with a 50kg weight-shaving scheme to drop the "stock" SLS' 0-62 mph time down from 3.8 seconds – already faster than 99% of the cars out on the road – to below 3.5 seconds, and the top speed up from 195 mph to 208.

Of course the added exclusivity won't come cheap: insiders expect the price to jump by half to over $250,000 when the SLS AMG Black Series hits the market in 2013.

Since its debut back in 1979, the Mercedes-Benz G-Class has been an automotive design icon known as much for rugged good looks as versatility; what other vehicle after all can lay claim both to having won the famous Paris-Dakar Rally and being deemed a worthy means of transport for the Pope? It not only constitutes the gene pool for a Mercedes-Benz SUV family that now numbers four model series in all, but with its 30th anniversary it's also the longest-serving passenger car model series there has been since Mercedes-Benz came into existence in 1886. Meticulously handcrafted at a special manufacturing facility in Graz, Austria, it can climb grades up to 36 degrees (80% slopes), and remain stable on lateral inclines up to 24 degrees (54% slopes) - and it rivals anything on the road for luxury finishes.

Only a few thousand G-Class models are sold here per year - perhaps not surprising given the $100,000-plus pricetag but certainly appealing to those who can afford it - making it the most exclusive SUV on the road, bar none. There are two versions: the G550 (the 2009 model of which my colleague Jonathon Ramsey wrote about earlier this year) and the supercharged G55 AMG, which delivers supercar-type performance. It's the one Abu Dhabi's royal family recently used to create an unrivaled bespoke offroad vehicle, and of course it's the one The Classicist chose to go cruising in. With its AMG-built 5.5-liter supercharged V8 engine kicking out 500 hp and 515 lb-ft of torque, it can do 0 - 60 mph in 5.4 seconds. Externally the G55 AMG is set apart from the G550 by exclusive chrome trim and "V8 Kompressor" badging as well as new 19-inch five-spoke wheels.

So yes it's a mean machine, but far from flashy; the utilitarian design conceals the sexy beast lurking within. Some find it too boxy, but we happen to love the retro military-inspired, no-nonsense styling; so damn many SUVs look like half-melted minivans. The only other thing that comes close to being as pedigreed, good-looking and tough-as-nails is the Land Rover Defender, and those haven't been sold in this country since the mid-90's. Moving on to the enticing interior, the G55 AMG features an exclusive Designo charcoal Nappa leather interior, natural maple wood trim and special AMG gauges to remind you what's going to happen when your foot hits the floor. A heated wood and leather steering wheel, power windows, and 10-way heated and ventilated multi-contour front seats round out the list of creature comforts. Added to solid axles front and rear and three electronically locking differentials to handle anything the terrain can throw at you, it gives new meaning to the phrase "best of both worlds."



A new COMAND infotainment system features a large color display screen with a standard in-dash, six-disc DVD / CD changer and a Bluetooth interface that allows a cell phone still in a pocket or purse to be operated through the car's audio system. It's also equipped with an iPod/MP3 interface, SIRIUS satellite radio, HD radio, and enhanced voice control system, as well as a 610-watt digital Harmon/Kardon Logic7 audio system that can play tracks stored on a data CD, DVD or SD memory card. It also displays maps and directions for the hard-drive navigation system, which are set up for SIRIUS real-time traffic info and Zagat restaurant ratings as well. If there's a five-star eatery on top of that mountain, you'll get there. To truly appreciate the G55 you need to head into the countryside and let it lead you off on some adventures: we visited Kaaterskill Falls, the Orvis Cup and the Vanderbilt Mansion to name a few. Sadly the G55 had to go back home, but we still have the memories - and some pictures, which we might show you if you're lucky.

There's been a horsepower war being waged between German automakers for years, and Mercedes has been one of the biggest armies on the front line. An endless succession of big V8 and twin-turbo V12 engines have seen to Benz's dominance, housed in everything from station wagons to sportscars. Following the likes of the SLR McLaren and SL65 Black Series, the latest of the latter is almost here. But while the SLS "gullwing" will shout the battle cry of the horsepower wars with typical zeal, confirmed reports now indicate that it will also offer a more peaceful solution in the form of an all-electric version.

While the conventional SLS will be powered by a 6.3-liter V8 producing 563 horsepower and 479 lb-ft of torque, the electric version will produce the equivalent of 526hp and 649 lb-ft, offering potential buyers no excuse for sticking to the fossil-fuel-burning version once the electric model makes its debut. The electric Mercedes supercar promises to accelerate to sixty in four seconds flat, that motivation being delivered courtesy of four individual electric motors and a 48 kWh lithium ion battery pack. Given Mercedes parent company Daimler's recent investment of $50 million in Tesla, it's safe to say that the California startup will be helping out in the development, but while a launch date for the electric SLS hasn't been revealed, sources expect to see it on the road by 2015.