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Mercedes-Benz pickup could come to US

Mercedes-Benz USA CEO Steve Cannon says the brand has until the end of the year to decide whether to bring its upcoming midsize pickup truck to the United States. "We said to Stuttgart, 'We are open, and let us assess the market.' If that leads to us saying 'green light,' then we will bring it," Cannon said to Automotive News. Mercedes-Benz Vans is leading the pickup's development, and the company's official announcement said the truck's intended markets are Latin America, South Africa, Australia and Europe. The vehicle is expected to launch by 2020. The company might take advantage of some of Nissan's truck expertise on the project, but that's not decided yet, according to Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn. However, if the Mercedes pickup makes it to the US, it wouldn't be the same utility-oriented model as for the rest of the world. Instead, Cannon indicates that the truck would be adapted to fill a more luxurious role in the lineup and wouldn't be limited to dealers that sell vans. "For a Mercedes-Benz household that has a lot of stuff or a lot of kids or they want to tow the boat - we could offer something to customers who are already luxury-predisposed," he said to Automotive News. Keep in mind none of this is set in stone, and Mercedes doesn't have to offer the model here because "officially it was approved without US volume," Cannon said to Automotive News. He thinks the truck would be a niche vehicle and sales might only be around 10,000 units a year. With pickups among the leading segments in transactions over $50,000 in the US, the market could still be the right fit for the traditionally high-end German brand. Related Video:

Erebus Motorsport Mercedes E-Class V8 Supercar completes the field [w/videos]

Ford, Holden and Nissan introduced their V8 Supercar challengers a while back. Erebus Motorport, whose racing program got the green light not even 120 days ago, has finally shown off the Mercedes-Benz E-Class racer that will complete this year's field of entries. The first AMG race car ever to be built outside of Germany, it's an Australian-built tube-frame chassis specced to the series' Car of Tomorrow rules, fitted with body panels that channel the E63 AMG.
Supported by AMG Customer Motorsport, the 5.0-liter engine is provided by HWA in Germany, the racing arm of AMG. Regulations dictate that it have roughly 650 horsepower, a redline between 7,000 and 7,500 rpm and a torque curve that matches the parity baseline set for all cars.
Lee Holdsworth, Tim Slade and Maro Engel will drive the three team cars, each with different sponsors. Their first showing will be at the Clipsal 500 on March 3 in Adelaide, here in the US we'll get to see them in May at the Circuit of the Americas. Check out the videos below of the Erebus car starting up at its launch, and footage of all of this year's cars doing pre-season testing on track together.

Mercedes teases a new Maybach concept convertible

Once again, Mercedes is taking a Vision concept to the Pebble Beach Concours this year. To start generating excitement, the company has released a teaser trailer for the car, and effectively no other information. But we think we've pieced together what the car is. Let's look at the video first. It shows a voluptuous blue body. It's all curves and clean lines inside and out. It also has an impressively prodigious prow with a proud three-pointed star at the front. The interior is all white with very little detail, and in addition to chrome, there are many copper trim pieces. There appear to be only two seats, too. Toward the end, we see a strip of copper trim on the outside as well, and just before the shot changes, we can see a bit of white interior that indicates this is a convertible. So we know this is an elegant, luxurious roadster. Is there anything else we can discern? Well, it seems Mercedes may have accidentally revealed the name of the car, or at least what it's based on. The video's file name includes the words "Maybach six." That happens to be the name of last year's Mercedes-Maybach coupe concept. On top of that, there's a striking resemblance between the long, flowing hoods of both cars. So it seems like a pretty safe bet that Mercedes will show the convertible version of that car, which was 18 feet long, and produced 738 horsepower from a quartet of electric motors. We'll find out if we're right when the car is revealed at Pebble Beach. Related Video: Image Credit: Mercedes-Benz Design/Style Maybach Mercedes-Benz Technology Emerging Technologies Convertible Concept Cars Electric Luxury Pebble Beach