2015 Mercedes-benz C-class C 400 on 2040-cars

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Aston Martin and Mercedes-AMG bicycles: Luxury branding has no bounds

Luxury automobile companies are never quite satisfied with building high-end cars. They often stray into other types of branded merchandise that can have little to do with cars, such as the BMW Active line of clothing and accessories. Splitting the difference between branded merchandise and actual vehicles are these two limited-production bicycles from Mercedes and Aston Martin. The bike above is a collaboration between Mercedes-AMG and German bicycle brand Rotwild, a builder that has been around since 1996, according to the company's website. The bicycle in question is the R.S2 "Beast of the Green Hell." It's inspired by the Mercedes-AMG GT R sports car that was promoted with the same nickname. It uses a carbon frame and wheels, as well as disc brakes. It's also painted in green and black to match the Green Hell Magno color available on the GT R. Only 50 of them will be built, and each will carry a pricetag of over ˆ7,000, or nearly $8,300 at current exchange rates, including tax. View 4 Photos The second bicycle is from Aston Martin and another German bicycle company, this one called Storck Bicycles. This bike company has also only been around since 1995. The bike is called the Fascenario.3 Aston Martin Edition, and it will be a bit less rare than the Mercedes bicycle, with 107 total units. It's still a cool vehicle, though, featuring a carbon frame and wireless shifters. In total it weighs 13 pounds. It does lack the disc brakes of the Mercedes bicycle, though. Pricing hasn't been announced for the Aston Martin bike, but don't expect it to be cheap. Related Video: Featured Gallery ROTWILD R.S2 Limited Edition Mercedes-AMG GT R bicycle View 9 Photos Image Credit: Mercedes-Benz, Aston Martin Green Weird Car News Aston Martin Mercedes-Benz Performance mercedes-amg

2016 Mercedes-Benz C450 AMG Sport is not too hot, not too cold

Mercedes-Benz is moving to a new system for performance models, launching its AMG Sport line that will slot above the standard cars, but below the full-fledged Mercedes-AMG offerings. The perfect example of how this all looks can be seen with the C-Class – we've already driven (and enjoyed) the standard C300 and C400 offerings, and we're absolutely geeked to test the Mercedes-AMG C63. Slotting in the middle, though, is this new C450 AMG Sport, which makes its debut at the Detroit Auto Show this week. Power comes from the twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 found in the C400, but output is increased to 362 horsepower and 384 pound-feet of torque – up from 329 and 354, respectively. That's all shuffled through the company's 7G-Tronic seven-speed automatic transmission, and sent to the road via 4Matic all-wheel drive. Hitting 60 miles per hour is said to take just 4.9 seconds, en route to a 155-mph top end. There's an AMG adaptive sport suspension with adjustable dampers (from the C63), and the interior and exterior aesthetics have been pumped up for a more sporting appearance. It all seems like a good fit, and we think it'll slot nicely in the middle of the already good C-Class range. Check out our fresh batch of lives images of the C450 above. Featured Gallery 2016 Mercedes-Benz C450 AMG Sport: Detroit 2015 View 12 Photos Related Gallery 2016 Mercedes-Benz C450 AMG 4Matic Image Credit: Live photos copyright 2015 Drew Phillips / AOL Detroit Auto Show Mercedes-Benz Luxury Performance Sedan 2015 Detroit Auto Show mercedes c450 amg sport

Genesis cars win accolades, offer value — so why are sales so bad?

My high-school buddy Brent Cormier was so smitten with the Genesis G80 when he saw it at an event I hosted at SXSW in 2016 he bought a used 2013 Hyundai Genesis a short time later and fell in love with the car. "It surpasses my every expectation," said Cormier, a self-described "renaissance man" who owns and runs a real estate agency with his wife Laura, is a food service executive chef and part owner of Austin-based Thin the Herd Guitars. "I was locked into Mercedes and Audi for 10 years," he added. "And felt trapped in an endless pit of maintenance costs." After owning the Genesis over the past two years — including using it as an Uber and Lyft driver to earn extra cash — Cormier learned what some frugal luxury sedan buyers and a handful of car reviewers have discovered: Genesis offers great bang for the buck compared to other premium brands and can compete with the best in terms of performance, features and comfort. Hyundai's luxury brand also earned a prominent third-party endorsement last week when for the first time Genesis topped J.D. Power's 2018 APEAL study, surpassing German luxury-performance icon Porsche. The APEAL study (which stands for Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout) "measures owners' emotional attachment and level of excitement across 77 attributes," ranging from performance to comfort, and asks nearly 68,000 owners of new 2018 models to score vehicles on a 1,000-point scale. In its second year ranked as a stand-alone brand, Genesis earned an APEAL score that bumped it up 15 points to 884 and helped push it past Porsche — and past BMW, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volvo, Cadillac, Land Rover and Lexus, in order of ranking. Last month, Genesis also topped J.D. Power's Initial Quality Survey (IQS) for the first time this year. And both its models were awarded Top Safety Pick Plus ratings by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, among 11 Plus ratings in all for Korean vehicles. Despite high J.D. Power rankings and great reviews, Genesis U.S. sales were off 50 percent for the first six months of 2018 compared to 2017, and in June Genesis sold only 796 vehicles — the first time U.S. numbers dropped below 1,000 in a month. Part of Genesis's APEAL and IQS success can be attributed to its small product lineup: just two models, the G80 and G90 sedans, with a third, the 2019 G70, launching later this year. And while those numbers may help in J.D.