Mercedes-Benz recently released this promo video of its new A Class. There’s certainly a lot of tech filtering its way down from the larger Benz models. It will be fascinating to see how it is priced when it lands in Australia next year.
Category: Mercedes-Benz
Fernando Alonso is fast becoming our favourite driver not going by the name of Mark Webber. His ability to continually put his car in a winning position—see Valencia and Malaysia—when the quality of his machinery has often not been deserving of such results is genuine Spanish grit. He has guts. We like that.
You may or may not share our view on Alonso, but we suspect you’ll enjoy the 100 photos of the European Grand Prix we have assembled on your behalf.
That’s quite a handy looking podium there, there’s a total of 10 world championships represented. Of course, in all the commotion last night Fernando Alonso’s win at the European Grand Prix makes him the first driver in 2012 to win two races.
Before you start reading the full transcript from the post-race press conferences there’s some housekeeping we need to address.
Stewards did find that Michael Schumacher used his DRS under yellow flag conditions, but telemetry and video evidence showed that he slowed down sufficiently and he has not been penalised; his third place stands.
However, Pastor Maldonado was deemed at fault in his incident with Lewis Hamilton. Maldonado was given a 20 second stop-go penalty which pushed him from P10 to P12. His Williams teammate, Bruno Senna, has moved up one spot and claims the final point.
Sebastian Vettel is still none the wise as to why his car lost power during the race and had this to say: “At the moment it’s not entirely clear what the problem was. I lost acceleration, the engine stalled and I couldn’t do anything; that was it. You can’t change it now.
“Up until that point it was clear we were strong, I was very happy in the car and had the pace. We were very quick today and it felt good. The initial re-start after the safety car was fine, but we’re not sure of the exact problem, we’ll need to look into it.â€
Cyril Dumont from Renault did shed some light into Vettel’s engine woes: “Today was a real disappointment as Sebastian was well ahead and seemed to have the race in his pocket. Then the alternator overheated, stopped supplying electrical power and the engine shut down. We’re not sure exactly why – it could be a number of things – but it’s definitely something we’ll look at when we get back to Viry. Congratulations to Mark though, from almost the back to fourth is a fantastic result.â€
The final finishing positions and drivers’ championship table have been updated in our post-race report to reflect the Maldonado penalty. Now all that’s left for you to do is read over the post-race press release, courtesy of the FIA. As usual, we’ll have a photo gallery from the race up soon.
Fernando Alonso has become a popular, albeit unlikely, winner at tonight’s European Grand Prix in Valencia. The Ferrari man started from P11 in front of a parochial Spanish crowd and made the most of a highly dramatic race that looked for all money as though it was safely in Sebastian Vettel’s pocket.
The race-defining drama took place after an incident between a clumsy Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) and Heikki Kovaleinen (Caterham), which brought out the Safety Car. Vettel, previously enjoying a lead of over 20 seconds, made a clean restart and looked as though he would drive on to an unchallenged victory.
Romain Grosjean had positioned his Lotus nicely in P2 after the restart with Alonso close behind. The dual world champion quickly gave Grosjean a masterclass in restarting from a Safety Car period and turned a half chance into what turned out to be a race winning overtake.
Not long after Alonso moved into P2 he was greeted by the sight of a slowing Red Bull and Vettel was powerless to defend his position, coasting to retirement. It would have been Vettel’s third win in a row at this event. The crowd couldn’t have cared less about that and went wild when Alonso took the lead, he was then able to stay ahead of the mayhem behind him and claim his 29th F1 win.
More chaos ensued with contact between several drivers and fading tyres responsible for sorting out the minor placings.
In the closing stages of the race Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) was in P2 but became vulnerable after his tyres lost their performance. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) was the first to speed past and Pastor Maldonado (Williams) soon had Hamilton in his sights. Maldonado just needed patience to complete the overtake. Turned out he didn’t have any and the two collided; a clearly agitated Hamilton finished his race in the wall, Maldonado struggled home to P10 without a front wing.
Michael Schumacher (Mercedes AMG) and Mark Webber (Red Bull) were making the most of their fresher tyres and completed late moves on the Force India duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta.
Unbeknown to him at the time, Schumacher finished the race in P3 and Webber, somehow, ended in P4. The Aussie started from P19, remember, and seemed to get his tyre strategy all wrong. In the end his need to come in relatively late for new tyres gave him a pretty tidy points haul.
After the post-race press conference we thought we were celebrating Schumacher’s 155th career podium, his first since China in 2006. However, it has since come to light that Michael may have used his DRS under yellow flag conditions. If so that will most likely push Webber into P3.
It was an amazing race and we won’t be at all surprised if you’re none the wiser as to what happened, even after reading this hastily cobbled together report.
What we do know is that Alonso now leads the drivers’ championship (111pts). Surprisingly, Webber (91pts) finds himself in second, ahead of Hamilton (88pts).
A provisional finishing order from Valencia is listed below, along with updated championship standings.
UPDATE: Schumacher’s third place stands; stewards found he did use his DRS under yellow flag conditions, but Schumacher slowed down sufficiently to make a penalty unwarranted. Maldonado has been given a 20 second penalty, which moves him down to P12, teammate Bruno Senna moves up to P10.
As the saying goes, “Once you go black, you can’t go back” and that’s exactly what Mercedes-Benz Australia are doing by telling their bosses in Germany that they’re not interested in the new SLS AMG GT. Instead the locals are holding out for the SLS AMG Black Series, due for release in 2013.
The SLS AMG Black will probably carry a price tag north of AU$750,000 if/when it arrives. Speaking on behalf of Mercedes-Benz Australia David McCarthy told Carsguide: “We won’t be taking the GT at this stage. There will be a more powerful SLS that we will take.”
Having said that, there’s no guarantee that Australia will be allocated any of what will be the most exclusive SLS model to date. But you’d reckon we’re a pretty good bet.
“As one of AMG’s most important markets with a very loyal,demanding and well informed ownership base every Black Series we get is virtually pre-sold,” added McCarthy.
[Source: Carsguide]
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Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG confirmed
Here at AUSmotive we were pretty excited when Mercedes unveiled its new A-Class at the Geneva Motor Show back in March. We liked the almost experimental approach to its styling, even if, on reflection, it may be a little fussy. We applauded Mercedes for being brave and stepping outside the norm in order to chase new, more youthful, buyers.
However, the seed to liking the new A-Class was planted last September when we spoke about the high-powered AMG version. Now, thanks to Autocar, we can bring you an update on the car that Mercedes-Benz will aim squarely at the 250kW Audi RS3 and 235kW BMW M135i.
Take note of those power figures, because this “A45 AMG” model is expected to sit right in the middle, with around 245kW (330hp) predicted. It’ll be powered by the first transversely mounted AMG engine, which will actually be a tuned version of the Mercedes 2.0 litre turbo four found in the A250 (pictured above).
Indeed, we like this quote from Tobias Moers, head of development at AMG, “Our goal right from the start was to match the output of the larger turbocharged 2.5-litre five-cylinder engine used by the RS3.”
One could argue Mercedes is using the RS3 as a blueprint; it will also feature a 7-speed dual clutch transmission and Haldex-equipped all-wheel drive system. It’s also expected AMG will attempt to live up to its hitherto rear-wheel drive heritage by tuning the all-wheel drive for a rear-drive bias under full acceleration.
Mercedes continues to be brave, with one insider claiming the A45 AMG will have “the highest corner speeds among its rivals.”
These bold claims and brave styling sit quite well with us, how about you? The A45 AMG is scheduled for release in early 2013.
[Source: Autocar]
Since becoming the seventh individual winner from the opening seven races, we suspect Lewis Hamilton is still in seventh heaven and celebrating his 2012 Canadian Grand Prix victory. If you couldn’t manage the 4am start, here’s 90-odd photos from the race to show you what you missed out on.
If nothing else, the bright sunny conditions were a welcome contrast after last year’s epic downpour.
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Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT revealed
Mercedes-Benz has given its SLS AMG a mild warm over and announced a new GT model. AMG’s engine tuners have found an extra 20hp lurking inside the familiar 6.3 litre V8, giving the SLS AMG GT a peak power figure of 591hp (435kW). Torque remains at the original figure of 650Nm.
Also receiving attention were the 7-speed dual-clutch transmission, now faster and more direct; and the creatively titled AMG Ride Control Performance suspension, now incorporating stiffer springs and dampers.
Throw all those things together and Benz reckon the experience in the latest iteration of the SLS AMG is more dynamic. If you want to quantify that, there is a modest 0.1 second improvement in the GT’s 0-100km/h time, now completed in 3.7 seconds.
The SLS AMG GT is available in both ‘Gullwing’ and Roadster form and European sales commence in October.
Last month Australians set a new vehicle sales record for the month of May. A total of 96,069 vehicles were sold, representing a very healthy increase of over 24% (18,668 vehicles) compared to May 2011.
Year-to-date numbers are up almost 9% on 2011 numbers, with a total of 435,288 sales in the first five months of 2012.
Toyota, as usual, claims the major monthly honours of top selling manufacturer (20,443) and highest selling individual model with the HiLux (4,626). Holden (9,017) and Mazda (8,346) fall in behind Toyota on the sales charts.
With such a bumper month it’s no surprise to see so many manufacturers releasing brag sheets. You can read them all after the break.
Let’s get one thing straight, Mercedes-Benz G Wagens are cool. Slightly odd, but cool. Why? Well, they just are.
So, what happens when you stuff a 544hp 5.5 litre twin-turbo V8 under the bonnet? Thankfully Chris Harris and Harry Metcalfe are on hand to find out.
Videos from both men can be seen after the break; they bring you 20 minutes of evaluation. Of course, neither take the G63 AMG off-road, instead they attack some twisties and wreak some havoc on the Autobahn.
Well, not much else about these cars, especially with that engine, makes a lot of sense. We think Metcalfe sums it up best with these two comments:
“God, it could understeer for Germany.”
“It’s not really a car, it’s a toy. And it’s a very, very good toy.”
Hey, in case you missed it: MARK WEBBER WON THE MONACO GRAND PRIX!
We’re still pretty excited by the result and if you are too then we’ve got over 100 pics from the race to serve as a lasting memento.
Enjoy!
The sun has come up this morning, just like any other day, but starting the working week after an Australian has won the Monaco Grand Prix makes things a little easier. Well done to Mark Webber, we can barely wipe the smile off our faces here at AUSmotive HQ, so can only imagine the Webber clan just down the road are even happier.
Making the start to the day even better is word that no protest has been lodged against Red Bull. Earlier in the week Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes had expressed doubts that some holes in the floor of the RB8 may not be legal. However, the race results were confirmed last night after the time for protests had passed.
Red Bull’s Team Principal, Christian Horner said: “We are totally happy that our car fully complies with the regulations. We have obviously consulted with the FIA over it—we have had their opinion in writing confirming the interpretation, so it would be disappointing if there was a protest. But we are entirely happy that the car completely complies.”
So, make yourself a cup of coffee, get yourself a seat in the sun and read what Webber and his fellow drivers had to say after the race, with the full post-race press conference transcript we have for you after the break.
[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]