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 …

TheSL500 was the top-selling version of the SL-Class early in the R230 series. It used a 5.0 L V8 engine, which produced 306 hp (228 kW) and 339 ft•lbf (460 N•m). A 5.5 L 32-valve V8 engine replaced the 5.0 L found in the SL500 for 2007. The engine is essentially the old SL55 engine without the addition of supercharger. The 5.5 litre natrually aspirated V8 can also be found in the new SLK 55 AMG. This model will retain the SL500 name in most markets, but will be sold as the SL550 in North America. It now produces 382 hp (285 kW) and 391 ft•lbf (530 N•m). It now accelerates from 0-60 mph in 5.3 seconds and has a limited top speed of 155 mph (249 km/h). In 2007, Mercedes will create 75 limited-edition 50th Anniversary SL550s. According to another article, Mercedes created 550 of these cars, all pewter in color with burgundy leather, black ash wood trim, 18-inch double five-spoked wheels, and matching 50th Anniversary Edition luggage. The SL600 is the highest-output version of the non-AMG SL-Class models. It uses a V12 engine which produced 493 hp (368 kW) and 590 ft•lbf (800 N•m) from 2003 through 2006 and was uprated to 510 hp (380 kW) and 612 ft•lbf (830 N•m) for 2007. It accelerates from 0-60 mph in 4.7 seconds, according to Mercedes-Benz. However Car and Driver achieved extremely impressive acceleration test figures with 60 mph (97 km/h) achieved in just 3.6 seconds, 100 mph (160 km/h) in 8.6 seconds and a Quarter Mile run in 11.9 seconds at 120 mph (190 km/h). The SL55 …

The first generation W202 C-Class was introduced in 1993, as a replacement for the Mercedes-Benz W201 (190), and proved immensely popular, quickly becoming Mercedes-Benz’s best-selling class of vehicles worldwide. Much of its popularity was accredited to the lower pricing point, when compared to other Mercedes-Benz models. The C-Class sedan was the company’s entry-level model up until 1997, when Mercedes launched the A-Class supermini. Styling themes were carried over from the previous W201 series, but the new series had a smoother and rounder design than the previous generation of compact Mercedes. On its debut, the C-Class was the only Mercedes model with a complete lineup of multivalve engines. The new family of four cylinder petrol units, called M111, debuted in the C 180 (1.8 L, 122 PS (120 hp/90 kw)), C 200 (2.0 L, 136 PS (134 hp/100 kw) and C 220 (2.2 L, 150 PS (148 hp/110 kw), the only four cylinder of the range sold in the US). In 1996 the C 220 was replaced by the C 230, enlarged to 2.3 L displacement but with the same output, although with torque increased to 220 N•m (162 ft•lbf). . The top of the range was the C 280, with a four-valve-per-cylinder straight-6 engine, capable of reaching 193 PS (190 hp/142 kw). Four cylinder diesel models were equipped with the same OM601 engine of the 190, in the 2.0 L and 2.2 L versions. Many of these diesel variants were sold as taxis, due to their low fuel consumption and strong reliability. There were also more powerful …

DaimlerChrysler introduced a new generation of the C-Class on January 18, 2007 and displayed it in the 2007 Geneva Auto Show. Sales started on March 31, 2007 in almost all European countries. The new vehicle has an extended wheelbase and tracks, a stiffer bodyshell and a design inspired by the most recent S-Class and some hints from the CLS-Class. The model has three levels of equipment – Classic, Elegance and Avantgarde. A high performance AMG version with a 6.2 L engine followed in …

The Mercedes-Benz W123 cars were produced from 1976 through 1985. The W123 models surpassed their predecessor, the W114/W115 “stroke-8″ models, as the most successful Mercedes, selling over 2.5 million cars, before being replaced by the W124 after 1985. Also, the additional, smaller range of Mercedes-Benz W201 models was introduced in 1982. As usual, model names were related to engine sizes, type of engine and chassis type • D for Diesel, • E for Einspritzung (fuel injection) • Lang for Long …

The 2009 A-Class features redesigned front and rear bumpers, new tail lamps and headlights, new grille, new exterior mirrors, a restyled interior design and new upholsteries and colors. The 2009 A-Class was released alongside the refreshed 2009 M-Class and B-Class. A four-day, seven-country tour which officially introduced the car culminated in an event in Milan, in the Castello Sforzesco, where all the touring units were received by a myriad of European personalities from music, fashion …

The Mercedes-Benz W208 coupes and convertibles were produced from 1997 to 2002. They were sold under the CLK-Class model names. The W208 models were the CLK 200 4-cylinder, CLK230 4-cylinder, CLK 320 V6, CLK 430 V8 and CLK 55 AMG. All models were available in both coupe and cabriolet form. The CLK introduced a new market niche for Mercedes-Benz. Although the W208 used components from the E-Class and had a specification level higher than the E-Class, it was in fact based on the C-Class …