2013 Mercedes-benz C-class on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Recharge Wrap-up: new Gigafactory drone video, Mercedes valet

A new, Tesla-approved drone video shows the progress of the Gigafactory. Recently, a video surfaced showing what Elon Musk said was just the "pilot plant," which is only a quarter of the size of the final planned Gigafactory. This new video not only shows the structure, but also the site surrounding it. We see more steel beams waiting to be erected, suggesting that the footprint of the finished building will be even more massive than that of the current standing structure. And if what Musk says is accurate, we've got a lot more to look forward to. Have a look in the video above, and read more at Teslarati. Tesla is paying hackers to find bugs in its website and products. In a posting on Bugcrowd, the electric automaker calls on "security researchers" to find vulnerabilities in the site itself, any domains owned by Tesla, any Tesla apps as well as Tesla hardware owned by the hacker like a Model S or the Powerwall. In exchange for the hackers' service, Tesla is offering rewards ranging from $25 to $1,000 for reported vulnerabilities. Tesla also promises not to sic the law enforcement on hackers who step forward to help, as long as they follow the rules. Read more at Teslarati. Daimler and Bosch are working on automated parking for Mercedes-Benz. In a properly equipped parking garage, the car would find an empty space and park by itself, and return to the driver when called upon. The groups are starting a pilot project for the autonomous valet feature with carsharing service Car2go, where it works the other way around. Customers will be able to call a car to a pick-up zone using a mobile app. When finished, the customer leaves the car in the drop-off zone, and the car takes care of the rest on its own. "Fully automated parking will be ready for mass-production before fully automated driving," says Bosch's Dr. Dirk Hoheisel. "Low driving speeds and the information from the car park infrastructure enable a fast implementation." Read more in the press release from Daimler. Volta has raised $7.5 million in funding to expand its free EV charging network. To offer free charging, Volta's chargers essentially perform double duty as billboards for what Volta calls "companies with a vested interest in the community." "Early Internet pioneers like Google became industry titans by first offering free consumer services online paid for by companies that advertised on their platforms," says Volta CEO Scott Mercer.

Mercedes-Benz GLE gets official before NY Show

Hot off the debut of the GLE-Class Coupe just a few months ago at the Detroit Auto Show, Mercedes-Benz is now all set to unveil that SUV's more utilitarian sibling. The new GLE-Class will offers buyers a model that's a little more traditional looking, while still bringing heaps of available power and luxury to the table. The new GLE-Class replaces the ML-Class in Mercedes' newly renamed lineup. At the front, there's a new nose with a clear family resemblance to the Coupe. It sports big openings all over, and standard models wear an attractive two-bar grille or a just a single crosspiece for AMG trims. Once your eye moves past the A-pillar, the design becomes more of an evolution of the current ML. The prominent C-pillar and wraparound rear glass are still present, while the creases running down the profile appear a little sharper and more pronounced. As you might expect, the interior for the GLE-Class is practically identical to its Coupe counterpart. That means drivers get a thick, multi-function steering wheel to hang on to, and there's a large infotainment display poking up above the dashboard in the center. A center-console-mounted dial controller is found below. When it comes time for buyers to pick their GLE-Class, they're going to have a long list of powertrains to choose from. Lowest in terms of horsepower is the GLE300d 4MATIC with a 2.1-liter, four-cylinder diesel making 201 hp and 369 pound-feet of torque. Next, there is the gasoline-fueled GLE350 with a 3.5-liter V6 making 302 hp and 273 lb-ft, and it's also available with 4Matic. The GLE400 4Matic uses a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 to make 329 hp and 354 lb-ft of twist, and the GLE550e 4Matic adds a plug-in hybrid to that mill to bring total output to 436 hp and 479 lb-ft. Finally, for those that really want some power underfoot, the Mercedes-AMG GLE63 and GLE63 S boast twin-turbo 5.5-liter V8s putting down 550 hp and 577 hp, respectively. The standard models all use versions of the 7G-tronic gearbox, and AMG models get the Speedshift MCT seven-speed. We look forward to getting a good look at the GLE-Class at its grand unveiling at the New York Auto Show on April 1. The posh SUVs start arriving at dealers a few months later in August. Buyers wanting the GLE550e 4Matic have to wait just a little longer until it comes along in mid-September. View 19 Photos View 11 Photos World Premiere for the Mercedes-Benz GLE and Mercedes-AMG GLE63 Efficiency meets performance Stuttgart.

2022 Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance Mega Gallery | The show in pictures

COMO, Italy — Held annually, the Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance is, in many ways, Europe's version of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. It takes place in a beautiful location, and it brings together an impressive selection of rare and valuable cars. It's a real treat for the eyes, the ears, and, if you're into champagne, the palate. The 2022 edition of the show was no exception: About 50 cars were shipped to Lake Como from over a dozen countries, and it wasn't just the usual suspects. Sure, there were a lot of pre-war cars (including a couple of one-off models), but some of the icons that younger enthusiasts grew up with (like the Lamborghini Countach) were present as well. This year's event was split into eight categories: The Art Deco Era of Motor Car Design, The Supercharged Mercedes-Benz, How Grand Entrances Were Once Made, Eight Decades of Ferrari Represented in Eight Icons, "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday," BMW's M Cars and Their Ancestors, Pioneers That Chased the Magic 300 KPH, And a design award for concept and prototypes. The jury gave the coveted "best of show" award to a 1937 Bugatti 57 S owned by Andrew Picker of Monaco, while the aforementioned classes were won by, respectively: The Bugatti 57 S, shown below, A 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet, A 1956 Chrysler Boano Coupe Speciale, A 1966 Ferrari 356 P Berlinetta Speciale Tre Posti, A 1961 Porsche 356 B Carrera Abarth GTL, A 1972 BMW 3.0 CSL, A 1989 Porsche 959 Sport, And the Bugatti Bolide concept unveiled in 2020. Winning at Villa d'Este is a big deal: The cars are judged by a panel of highly experienced judges. No one gave me a scoring sheet, presumably out of fear that I'd award points to the late-model Fiat 600 lurking in the parking lot, but several cars that didn't win an award caught my eye. One is a 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports, a grand-prix racer that was once owned by King Leopold III of Belgium and that has never been restored — its patina is inimitable. Another is a 1961 BMW 700 RS. One of two built (the other is in the BMW collection), it's a tiny, ultra-light roadster related to the 700 and powered by a 697-cubic-centimeter air-cooled flat-twin tuned to develop 70 horsepower. It won several hill-climb events during the 1960s, and it's one of the rarest cars ever to wear a BMW roundel. Aston Martin's freshly-restored 1979 Bulldog concept was cool to see as well; check out the cassette player integrated into the headliner!