2008 Mercedes-benz C350 Sport Sedan 4-door 3.5l on 2040-cars

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Mercedes dealers authorized to spend $2,500 on perks for S-Class customers

If you drop $100,000 on a luxury sedan, it seems only reasonable to receive some preferential treatment at the dealership you purchased from. After all, that price isn't just for the car - you're paying for the brand and all the cachet that entails. For Mercedes-Benz, those benefits have apparently been lacking relative to the German brand's luxury competitors.
That's set to change, though, as Automotive News reports that the German brand is placing a much greater emphasis on keeping its customers happy and loyal with its MB Select program. Starting with the new S-Class and spreading to the CLA-Class (and eventually beyond), dealers are being given money - up to $2,500 in the case of the flagship sedan - just to improve the customer experience.
We agree, improving the "customer experience" is quite a vague term, so it's nice that Mercedes USA's CEO, Steve Cannon, offered up some examples to AN at the LA Auto Show. For example, a customer couldn't fit his sunglasses into the overhead compartment. "So we bought him a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses that fit because of their shape," Cannon said.

Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG is Affalterbach's first big leap into the little pond

The recent history of AMG is turning out amped-up versions of Mercedes-Benz offerings that would hardly ever be mistaken for their sedate counterparts. Sure, you'd need to pay attention to pick a G-Class from the G63 AMG, but dual side-pipes are a quick giveaway. The Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG is not only a new era in Affalterbach's attention on smaller cars, it is probably also the most subtle transformation we can think of in the line-up.
Low and chunky enough in standard guise to make a sporting impression, the aesthetic makeover is confined to black trim around the lower rim of the hatch, black wheels with red brake calipers and a single, rectangular exhaust tip on either side of the diffuser. It's easier to make a positive ID inside, where the flat-bottomed steering wheel, red seatbelts and red-rimmed details say, "You know what I am..."
If the car is running, though, it won't take but a second. The 2.0-liter turbo spitting 360 horsepower and 332 pound-feet will grumble through a sport exhaust at idle, and bellow through the same on it's way to a 0-60 time of less than 4.5 seconds. And if you need something that looks a little harder - and you want those quad pipes - then the A45 AMG Edition 1 is the treasure you seek. There's a press release below for all the info you'll need until the hot hatch goes on sale in Germany later this year, and photos for the rest of us while we wait to find out if we'll get a chance to buy it.

Mercedes-Benz GLA Concept crossover leaked ahead of Shanghai debut

With just a few days left before the start of the Shanghai Motor Show, images of the Mercedes-Benz GLA Concept compact crossover have emerged online. The little 'ute is based on the small A-Class hatchback, and though it shares an identical wheelbase, is larger in every other dimension.
Looking like a rough-and-tumble five-door hatchback on the tippy toes of its 20-inch wheels, the GLA is most certainly destined for production in a toned down form that will borrow many bits and pieces from other cars based on this platform like the aforementioned A-Class and the CLA-Class sedan. Carscoop reports that the production version of the GLA will be revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September of this year, with sales to the public starting in 2014.
Since it's based on the A-Class, we expect that the production GLA-Class will be powered by your choice of Mercedes' 2.0-liter turbocharged inline four-cylinder engine and a diesel or two, and will offer transmissions that include the company's seven-speed DCT and perhaps a six-speed manual (at least in Europe). If the GLA follows the same path as the two cars before it, expect a GLA45 AMG producing over 300 horsepower, as well. As for what powers the GLA Concept, that just might remain a mystery until the vehicle is officially revealed in China.