Men's 4x100 Olympic gold medallist Asafa Powell, the present face of Mercedes-Benz in Jamaica, was presented with a Mercedes-Benz CLK 63 AMG Black Series poster, superimposed with his image. This 36"x 25" picture was presented to him as a gift from Euro Star Motors, authorised Jamaican dealers in Mercedes-Benz vehicles.
Powell has always dreamed of owning this vehicle, and therefore a special order has been made by Euro Star Motors for this particular unit, with the date of delivery anticipated to be early next year. This vehicle is a high-performance, limited edition, specially hand-made and engineered vehicle with an amazing acceleration of 0-200 km/h in 13.8 seconds. A perfect tribute to an
outstanding athlete.
BBC's Top Gear magazine has a fulsome review of the new 'Black' done by Jeremy Clarkson, which I exceprt below:
In driving, it goes without saying that certain things are mutually exclusive. You can’t, for instance, have a low-slung sports car that works off road; you can’t have a high top speed and good fuel economy; and you can’t have your dignity if you also have a small Korean hatchback. Also, despite many claims to the contrary, you can’t have a car that performs well on the Nürburgring and on the ring road. Or, at least, you couldn’t until now…
You may imagine that the car you see in the pictures is some kind of DTM racer for the road, as hard as nails, as focused as a laser and impossibly uncomfortable should you ever be asked to drive across, say, Keith Richards’ face.
It isn’t. What you’re looking at here is the only car that seems to achieve the impossible. A car that could quite happily get you, and more luggage than you could imagine, actually to Beijing. But which, I suspect, could quite happily bite chunks out of a Porsche turbo’s arse on a twisting and deserted stretch of Welsh A road.
It comes from the skunk works deep inside the special projects division Mercedes calls AMG. And it’s badged simply, and in newsprint-sized letters, as the Black.
It’s a normal car. But it goes like a rocket. And thanks to carbon-ceramic brakes, it stops pretty tidily as well. A Ferrari is awesome in the right place, but it slips around everywhere else, and the leather squeaks and the headlights are no good. The Black is brilliant, everywhere, at absolutely everything. By miles and miles, it’s our new favorite car.
There is just one catch. Even though it comes with less stuff than a normal AMG CLK, it costs nearly $65,000 more. Yes, you read that correctly. It should cost about $135,825, so that buyers have a choice: A car that’s kind under your hands. Or one that does the dishes as well.
Even so, we tip our hats to anyone who buys this thing. A Ferrari or a Porsche may well say more about you to more people. But a Black targets what it says to just a select few. And what it says, very quietly, is this: “If you really know your cars, you know why the person behind the wheel bought this.”
God, I want one.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
"Porsche-matics '09": mark your dates
STUTTGART, Germany — For 2009, Porsche is offering three calendars and a planner that detail the evolution of Porsche design and modern technologies in their cars.
The official 2009 Porsche calendar is themed "Engineering and Efficiency" and features 12 close-up images of Porsche technology, including Porsche's double-clutch gearbox, Variocam Plus and direct fuel injection. The calendar also includes a collector's coin.
A historical calendar is titled "Mathematics 2009: Game of Numbers" and traces the origins of Porsche's current design language back to the 1939 Porsche Type 64. Featured photos are of the Type 64 body that was recently reconstructed for the new Porsche museum. The calendar will be available in two formats: a standard printing and an exclusive run on larger, high-quality matte paper that will be limited to just 2,009 printings, with each calendar sequentially numbered.
The third calendar, known as the style calendar, also focuses on the Type 64. Titled "Affinities/Verwandtschaften," it features 12 sketches inspired by the Type 64 body shell. Porsche Design also offers a planner that tracks the rally history of the manufacturer from 1950 to 2008. The 2009 calendars will be available for purchase at Porsche's Web site.
Audi Talks 'Travolution'
The German car-maker says it has invented a device which will allow motorists to avoid red lights.
By Charlotte Bailey
Last Updated: 1:03PM BST 20 Oct 2008
The gadget, called Travolution, tells drivers what speed to go in order to arrive at traffic lights when they are green.
The device sits inside the car and plots the position of the vehicle and the distance from the next set of traffic signals. It then displays the optimum speed on a screen.
Audi, who developed the idea, say that it will benefit the environment by cutting exhaust emissions because fewer cars will be stationary at lights, saying also that it will improve fuel economy by ending stop-start inefficiency.
The AA said that device could be vital in meeting European Union emissions standards.
The motoring organisation said: "This could be an extremely useful tool for reducing CO2 and saving motorists money."
However it said that the gadget would need to be tested thoroughly in many different types of traffic conditions to ensure that it did not cause problems for other motorists.
Kate Dixon of Audi UK said that if a minimum of ten per cent of cars in a town were fitted with the technology, all road users would notice an improvement in traffic levels.
Audi said that it was too early to say how much the device would cost if it is put into mass production.
Further tests are expected next year.
By Charlotte Bailey
Last Updated: 1:03PM BST 20 Oct 2008
The gadget, called Travolution, tells drivers what speed to go in order to arrive at traffic lights when they are green.
The device sits inside the car and plots the position of the vehicle and the distance from the next set of traffic signals. It then displays the optimum speed on a screen.
Audi, who developed the idea, say that it will benefit the environment by cutting exhaust emissions because fewer cars will be stationary at lights, saying also that it will improve fuel economy by ending stop-start inefficiency.
The AA said that device could be vital in meeting European Union emissions standards.
The motoring organisation said: "This could be an extremely useful tool for reducing CO2 and saving motorists money."
However it said that the gadget would need to be tested thoroughly in many different types of traffic conditions to ensure that it did not cause problems for other motorists.
Kate Dixon of Audi UK said that if a minimum of ten per cent of cars in a town were fitted with the technology, all road users would notice an improvement in traffic levels.
Audi said that it was too early to say how much the device would cost if it is put into mass production.
Further tests are expected next year.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Could Jmaaica Pick-Up VW's 'Robust'?
The long-awaited and much anticipated Volkswagen Robust pickup truck has been canceled for European and North American sale, but the project is still alive and kicking as indicated by the recent ‘Pickup’ concept vehicle unveiled at last month’s 62nd IAA Commercial Vehicles Show in Hanover, Germany.
The United States was expected to be the vehicle’s single biggest market but analysis of fuel prices and market demand prompted VW to change its original plans and only offer it in emerging markets such as South America, Russia and possibly China. Those markets are quickly becoming important not just in terms of making a brand presence, but also for overall sales figures.
Russia recently outpaced Germany as Europe's biggest car market, and China isn't far behind. South America has demonstrated its growth potential over the past several years with Ford, VW and others considering more exports and market-specific vehicles, especially in Brazil.
Production is expected to take place at VW's factory in Argentina, with exports to Russia and China. As the spy photos and concept vehicle demonstrate, the new Robust will be available as a medium-sized four-door dual-cab vehicle with a short bed.
Our renderings of the vehicle show what it might like in civilian guise and free of all the camouflage, and in other form factors. The SUV variant depicted could also be a logical extension of the platform, though VW hasn't yet announced any such plans. A single-cab model should also be available in addition to the dual-cab variant, and different cargo area treatments will also be available.
The United States was expected to be the vehicle’s single biggest market but analysis of fuel prices and market demand prompted VW to change its original plans and only offer it in emerging markets such as South America, Russia and possibly China. Those markets are quickly becoming important not just in terms of making a brand presence, but also for overall sales figures.
Russia recently outpaced Germany as Europe's biggest car market, and China isn't far behind. South America has demonstrated its growth potential over the past several years with Ford, VW and others considering more exports and market-specific vehicles, especially in Brazil.
Production is expected to take place at VW's factory in Argentina, with exports to Russia and China. As the spy photos and concept vehicle demonstrate, the new Robust will be available as a medium-sized four-door dual-cab vehicle with a short bed.
Our renderings of the vehicle show what it might like in civilian guise and free of all the camouflage, and in other form factors. The SUV variant depicted could also be a logical extension of the platform, though VW hasn't yet announced any such plans. A single-cab model should also be available in addition to the dual-cab variant, and different cargo area treatments will also be available.
Audi A8 is the new 'Transporter'
Star Jason Statham previously relied on a BMW for his death-defying runs, but as the following confirms, Audi is the new Transporter
Audi A8 Is Big Star in New Transporter 3 Film's Trailer
Date posted: 10-14-2008
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — The second trailer for the film Transporter 3 not only previews Jason Statham in action as buff delivery man Frank Martin, but also gives you a taste of his hot new co-star: an Audi A8.
Some of the crazy stunts he carries out in the A8 include ramping onto a moving train, two-wheeling between semi-trucks and even nose-diving off a bridge into water.
Audi A8 Is Big Star in New Transporter 3 Film's Trailer
Date posted: 10-14-2008
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — The second trailer for the film Transporter 3 not only previews Jason Statham in action as buff delivery man Frank Martin, but also gives you a taste of his hot new co-star: an Audi A8.
Some of the crazy stunts he carries out in the A8 include ramping onto a moving train, two-wheeling between semi-trucks and even nose-diving off a bridge into water.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Motor Trend Scores the 7
2009 BMW 750Li: Stalin Would Be Proud
Posted Today 10:56 AM by Angus MacKenzie
Filed under: Editorial, The Big Picture, BMW, Sports Sedans
You remember those old Cold War stories about CIA analysts checking official photographs of Stalin and his generals reviewing the annual May Day parade in Red Square? Every so often they'd find one of the generals had disappeared. A closer look revealed he'd been carefully airbrushed out. It was as if he'd never existed.
The 2009 BMW 750Li is a bit like that: It carefully airbrushes away everything that made its predecessor, the E65, one of the most confronting BMWs ever built. The "Bangle Butt"? Psssht! The tank-like proportions? Psssht! The dash that looks like a piece of furniture; the column-mounted shifter; the odd-ball seat controls: Psssht! Psssht! Psssht! All gone. Walk around the new 7 Series, and it's as if the E65 had never existed. (Note: the new 2009 7 Series is pictured at left, the E65 7 Series is pictured below)
The irony is the E65 has been the most successful 7 Series in BMW's history. Despite continual carping from the world's automotive media over the car's uncompromising aesthetic, BMW has sold over 344,000 units worldwide. America liked the E65 a lot -- the U.S. accounted for 35.7% of total sales, more than twice the number of the second most popular market, China. Germany? BMW's home market accounted for just 13% of total sales.
BMW is clearly hoping the new 7 Series will build on that momentum -- and win over buyers put off by the E65's confrontational design and counterintuitive user interfaces.
If that's the case, first impressions suggest BMW is on target with the new 7 Series. Everywhere we went with the car during our drive in and around Dresden, Germany, the locals expressed their approval of the new design. They all knew about the old one; they all agreed this one looked better.
The final signoff of the E65's design happened amid huge turmoil at BMW in early 1999. First, chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder was forced to resign over the alarming losses at Rover Group, the ailing British automaker whose purchase he'd largely engineered. Within hours, product chief Wolfgang Reitzle, Pischetsrieder's logical successor, had blown his chance for the top job with an unbelievably ham-fisted attempt to secure the unquestioning support of the board. He, too, was shown the door. Joachim Millberg, a bureaucrat barely known outside BMW's iconic headquarters building in Munich, was made chairman.
The mercurial Reitzle, long regarded as one of the best car guys in the business, has always insisted privately he only approved the E65's design as an interim measure; that he always intended to go back and fix the 7 Series once Pischetsrieder was gone. "They have given my car sad eyes," was all he'd say on the record, referring to the E65's hooded headlight design. But most critics would argue the E65 needed a lot more than happier headlights.
Maybe Reitzle -- and the rest of the BMW board -- meant for the E65 to be deeply controversial; meant it to be a like-it-or-loathe-it design that no one could mistake for anything else. Why? Because they realized BMW had become one of the world's most successful and profitable automakers using a fairly singular design language and that they had run out of adjectives.
The turning point was the E46 3 Series. While the revisionists among my colleagues later lauded this car as one of the best-looking BMWs ever, that certainly wasn't the chatter around the dinner tables at the car's launch in Spain in 1998. Basically, the media view was the E46 was a ho-hum car to look at, just another cookie-cutter BMW and not enough of a step-change from the previous-generation model. For a company whose reliance on the 3 Series was total -- it still accounts for over half of total BMW sales -- the notion folks might be getting bored with it must have been worrying. Chris Bangle, the relatively new BMW design chief, was at the launch. He certainly heard the chatter.
You don't mess with success, however. Simply ripping up the 3 Series playbook would have been an unacceptable risk. The 7 Series was another issue, however. Here was a model that had always struggled in the shadow of Mercedes' all-conquering S-Class. Even the audacious 1987 launch of the 750i version, powered by the first German V-12 in more than 50 years, had failed to make a dent in the S-Class' blue-chip reputation and the world's best luxury sedan. Unveiling a bold, even shocking, new design language on its most expensive new model wasn't as counter-intuitive a move as it might have seemed: With the 7 Series BMW had nothing to lose.
The E65 7 Series changed the world's view of BMW and set in train the strategy to devolve BMW design away from the cookie-cutter system where each model range looked like a scaled version of the other, a strategy that would also allow BMW to move into new market segments such as SUVs. You can argue the relative merits of the various BMWs designed on Chris Bangle's watch -- some are way better than others -- but there is no doubt each is strikingly different from the other, while retaining a strong BMW design identity.
The E65 may have been a design too far, but you could argue it did precisely the job it was intended to do. The new 7 Series dials back the extremism and dials in some old-school BMW DNA, such as the long dash-to-axle ratio, stronger shoulders on the body side, lower H-point, and the center stack angled toward the driver. There's even an echo of the famed Hofmeister kink stamped into the C-pillar for emphasis. And this time, no one finds it boring.
Posted Today 10:56 AM by Angus MacKenzie
Filed under: Editorial, The Big Picture, BMW, Sports Sedans
You remember those old Cold War stories about CIA analysts checking official photographs of Stalin and his generals reviewing the annual May Day parade in Red Square? Every so often they'd find one of the generals had disappeared. A closer look revealed he'd been carefully airbrushed out. It was as if he'd never existed.
The 2009 BMW 750Li is a bit like that: It carefully airbrushes away everything that made its predecessor, the E65, one of the most confronting BMWs ever built. The "Bangle Butt"? Psssht! The tank-like proportions? Psssht! The dash that looks like a piece of furniture; the column-mounted shifter; the odd-ball seat controls: Psssht! Psssht! Psssht! All gone. Walk around the new 7 Series, and it's as if the E65 had never existed. (Note: the new 2009 7 Series is pictured at left, the E65 7 Series is pictured below)
The irony is the E65 has been the most successful 7 Series in BMW's history. Despite continual carping from the world's automotive media over the car's uncompromising aesthetic, BMW has sold over 344,000 units worldwide. America liked the E65 a lot -- the U.S. accounted for 35.7% of total sales, more than twice the number of the second most popular market, China. Germany? BMW's home market accounted for just 13% of total sales.
BMW is clearly hoping the new 7 Series will build on that momentum -- and win over buyers put off by the E65's confrontational design and counterintuitive user interfaces.
If that's the case, first impressions suggest BMW is on target with the new 7 Series. Everywhere we went with the car during our drive in and around Dresden, Germany, the locals expressed their approval of the new design. They all knew about the old one; they all agreed this one looked better.
The final signoff of the E65's design happened amid huge turmoil at BMW in early 1999. First, chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder was forced to resign over the alarming losses at Rover Group, the ailing British automaker whose purchase he'd largely engineered. Within hours, product chief Wolfgang Reitzle, Pischetsrieder's logical successor, had blown his chance for the top job with an unbelievably ham-fisted attempt to secure the unquestioning support of the board. He, too, was shown the door. Joachim Millberg, a bureaucrat barely known outside BMW's iconic headquarters building in Munich, was made chairman.
The mercurial Reitzle, long regarded as one of the best car guys in the business, has always insisted privately he only approved the E65's design as an interim measure; that he always intended to go back and fix the 7 Series once Pischetsrieder was gone. "They have given my car sad eyes," was all he'd say on the record, referring to the E65's hooded headlight design. But most critics would argue the E65 needed a lot more than happier headlights.
Maybe Reitzle -- and the rest of the BMW board -- meant for the E65 to be deeply controversial; meant it to be a like-it-or-loathe-it design that no one could mistake for anything else. Why? Because they realized BMW had become one of the world's most successful and profitable automakers using a fairly singular design language and that they had run out of adjectives.
The turning point was the E46 3 Series. While the revisionists among my colleagues later lauded this car as one of the best-looking BMWs ever, that certainly wasn't the chatter around the dinner tables at the car's launch in Spain in 1998. Basically, the media view was the E46 was a ho-hum car to look at, just another cookie-cutter BMW and not enough of a step-change from the previous-generation model. For a company whose reliance on the 3 Series was total -- it still accounts for over half of total BMW sales -- the notion folks might be getting bored with it must have been worrying. Chris Bangle, the relatively new BMW design chief, was at the launch. He certainly heard the chatter.
You don't mess with success, however. Simply ripping up the 3 Series playbook would have been an unacceptable risk. The 7 Series was another issue, however. Here was a model that had always struggled in the shadow of Mercedes' all-conquering S-Class. Even the audacious 1987 launch of the 750i version, powered by the first German V-12 in more than 50 years, had failed to make a dent in the S-Class' blue-chip reputation and the world's best luxury sedan. Unveiling a bold, even shocking, new design language on its most expensive new model wasn't as counter-intuitive a move as it might have seemed: With the 7 Series BMW had nothing to lose.
The E65 7 Series changed the world's view of BMW and set in train the strategy to devolve BMW design away from the cookie-cutter system where each model range looked like a scaled version of the other, a strategy that would also allow BMW to move into new market segments such as SUVs. You can argue the relative merits of the various BMWs designed on Chris Bangle's watch -- some are way better than others -- but there is no doubt each is strikingly different from the other, while retaining a strong BMW design identity.
The E65 may have been a design too far, but you could argue it did precisely the job it was intended to do. The new 7 Series dials back the extremism and dials in some old-school BMW DNA, such as the long dash-to-axle ratio, stronger shoulders on the body side, lower H-point, and the center stack angled toward the driver. There's even an echo of the famed Hofmeister kink stamped into the C-pillar for emphasis. And this time, no one finds it boring.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
4 and More - latest issue of Porsche mag
Greetings,
Excellence #169 November, 2008 online preview is now available at:
http://www.excellence-mag.com/
Online features include:
FAB FOUR
THE 997 CARRERA 4 AND 4S- NOW WITH DFI, PTM, AND PDK
STORY BY PETE STOUT
PHOTOS BY MARKUS LESER
and
SPAK EASY
THIS SOFT-SPOKEN TURBOCHARGED 964 MIXES MODERN
PERFORMANCE WITH VINTAGE SPORT-PURPOSES FLAVORING
STORY AND PHOTOS BY ZACHARY MAYNE
Excellence #169 November, 2008 online preview is now available at:
http://www.excellence-mag.com/
Online features include:
FAB FOUR
THE 997 CARRERA 4 AND 4S- NOW WITH DFI, PTM, AND PDK
STORY BY PETE STOUT
PHOTOS BY MARKUS LESER
and
SPAK EASY
THIS SOFT-SPOKEN TURBOCHARGED 964 MIXES MODERN
PERFORMANCE WITH VINTAGE SPORT-PURPOSES FLAVORING
STORY AND PHOTOS BY ZACHARY MAYNE
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