The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren is an Anglo-German sports car jointly developed by Mercedes-Benz and McLaren Automotive, built jointly in Portsmouth and the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. Daimler AG, owner of Mercedes-Benz, also owns 40% of the McLaren Group. Due to the presence of the automatic gear box, front mid-engined arrangement and its driving characteristics lead some commentators to classify the SLR McLaren as a GT whose rivals can be considered to be eg the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish and Ferrari 599 GTB. It is the fastest automatic transmission car in the world. SLR stands for “Sport, Leicht, Rennsport” (sport, light, racing). Mercedes-Benz has stated that they will build 3500 SLRs in a span of 7 years, with an annual production of only 500 cars. The car’s base price is GB£300000 (approx. US5000 or €475000, c. 2007). The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren is inspired by the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR of 1955, based on the W196 F1 car, yet named after the road-going 300SL Gullwing. On 4 April 2008, Mercedes announced they will cease production of the SLR. The last of the coupes rolled off the production line at the end of 2007 and the roadster version is due to be discontinued in early 2009. The brake discs are carbon-ceramic and provide better stopping power and fade resistance than steel discs when operating under ideal working temperature. Mercedes-Benz claims these discs are fade resistant to 1200°C. The front discs are internally vented and 370 mm …

The Mercedes-Benz W201 was the last incarnation of the Mercedes-Benz 190 nameplate. It was a compact executive car 4-door saloon/sedan produced by the Mercedes-Benz division of Daimler-Benz. It was replaced in 1993 by the C-Class. Dubbed “the Baby Benz”, the W201-based 190 was the most affordable model in the marque’s lineup, being designed to fill the gap in the range below the W123, the equivelent a modern Mercedes E-class. Amongst the items that were a first for Mercedes was the 190’s patented 5-link suspension at the rear, used in subsequent E- and C- class models, and developments used today in Mercedes road cars. It had front and rear anti-roll bars, and anti-dive, anti-squat geometry. The 190 was available with airbags, ABS brakes and seatbelt tensioners, and other advanced safety features. £600 million was spent researching and developing this car with Mercedes-Benz acutely aware that a failure of this model could easily bring down the rest of their model range and the entire company’s reputation. Mercedes-Benz later said the 190 was ‘massively over-engineered’. The W201-based 190 was introduced in November 1982. The UK market was kept waiting up to 12 months longer than mainland Europe in order to stimulate sales. Local ‘red tape’ in Bremen (which produced commercial vehicles at the time) prevented Daimler-Benz from building the 190 there, so production was started in Sindelfingen at a capacity of just 140000 units per year. Eventually after just the first year …