2016 Mercedes-benz Amg Gt S Edition 1 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2016 Canadian Grand Prix: A tale of 3 starts and 2 stops

The first curve in the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix happened before Turn 1. Lewis Hamilton sat on pole in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas, Sebastian Vettel in a Ferrari behind. That order changed as soon as the lights went out. Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg started well enough, but Vettel flew off the line, passing Hamilton in just a few meters. Vettel led through Turn 1 while Hamilton defended against Rosberg trying to pass on the outside by using the entire track. Hamilton bumped his teammate, sending Rosberg into the concrete runoff with an " infuriating but fair" maneuver Hamilton blamed on understeer. The Brit stayed second, his teammate fell to ninth by the time he rejoined the circuit and got back on the gas. The Ferrari finally looked an even match for the Mercedes, Vettel slowly building a gap out front. On Lap 11 the Honda in Jenson Button's McLaren self-ignited just after the hairpin, forcing Button to pull over on the Casino Straight. A Virtual Safety Car slowed the field, convincing Ferrari to pit its drivers. Vettel came in, handing the lead to Hamilton. The marshals cleared Button's car more quickly than expected, so the scuderia didn't get the full time advantage it expected, sending Vettel back on track seven seconds behind the Mercedes. Button's and Ferrari's unplanned stops decided the race. Ferrari had always planned to run a two-stopper, but the early pit didn't give the team a chance to gauge the ultra-soft Pirelli. The ultra-softs lasted longer than anyone expected. Hamilton only pitted once, Vettel had to pit again, and the Ferrari simply couldn't close the gap to the Mercedes even with newer tires. Post-race commentary accused Ferrari of two blunders: giving up track position, and not taking advantage of Mercedes' only known weakness of not being nearly as good in dirty air. If the ultra-softs had fallen off a performance cliff, however, Ferrari's play would have been considered daring and brilliant. Hamilton took his second win of the season, followed by a hard-driving Vettel five seconds later. Valtteri Bottas and Williams got everything right, the Finn taking advantage of a one-stop strategy, a perfectly-timed pit stop, and more unusual Red Bull issues to finish third. It's Williams' first podium of the year. Max Verstappen claimed fourth after two pit stops, holding off a frustrated Rosberg who had to make an unscheduled stop to remedy a slow puncture.

European automakers overstate fuel economy by 40% on NEDC cycle

Volkswagen is apparently not alone among European automakers when it comes to giving out funny emissions or fuel economy numbers. It turns out that pretty much everyone across the Pond is doing it. So much, in fact, that, on average, the difference between European vehicles' fuel-economy and emissions figures and real-world driving results is about 40 percent, Bloomberg says, citing a report from Brussels-based Transport & Environment. Yes, 40 percent. Mercedes-Benz was the worst offender, as the Daimler division on average overstated its vehicles' fuel economy by 48 percent, said the study, which used data from International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). That automaker isn't exactly a world-beater for fuel economy in the US. In fact, two of its models, the Mercedes-Benz G 63 AMG and the G550 (pictured), showed up on the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's (ACEEE) annual list of cars that are "meanest" to the environment. "The information provided by manufacturers on fuel consumption is based on the NEDC test cycle, which is prescribed by law and conducted in a laboratory. Since real driving conditions generally deviate from conditions in the laboratory, the consumption figures can also deviate from the standardized figures. Since T&E has unfortunately not published the test conditions used in its study, it is not possible to provide a useful analysis of the test results," Mercedes-Benz wrote in an e-mailed statement to Autoblog. "The data pool used also does not allow a thorough scientific assessment. Mercedes-Benz emphatically supports the introduction of the WLTP (Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure). This is supposed to replace the NEDC with the aim of bringing the rated fuel consumption and the actual consumption closer together. We also actively support the dialog between industry (ACEA) and the authorities, and are in regular contact with the EPA and the ARB in the US." The ICCT is the group that helped spur the investigation that led to the Volkswagen diesel-emissions scandal we're all still talking about, so it shouldn't expect Christmas cards from the largest German automakers this year. This new study came from data taken from about 600,000 cars. That's a lot of funky air floating over Rome. The overstatements were pretty widespread, too. The fuel-economy of the BMW 5 Series was overstated by almost 50 percent, as was the Peugeot 308's.

Mercedes may be working on a new electric car dubbed 'Ecoluxe'

Automobile has a lengthy piece this month on how the four German mass-market luxury manufacturers each plan to go after Tesla with their own electric vehicles. It was written by Georg Kacher, the magazine's European bureau chief, and the English version came a month after he wrote the German-language original for Autobild. Tesla isn't exactly a threat to the Germans, but, according to the report, the Model S is planting the right kinds of seeds in niches that are important to the luxury players. The thinking is that - in addition to needed electric vehicles anyway for stricter US regulations - it's better to start designing the machinery now. The article posited Porsche's attack would rest on the coming Panamera platform, but a big hurdle would be battery placement. Unable to find one large space for a lithium-ion pack, engineers would instead put batteries everywhere they could, for a supposed tally of some "108 battery pouches" throughout the body. A few days after the Automobile piece, however, Porsche publicly said it had no intention of challenging the Model S, because the enthusiastic driving the brand is known for doesn't jive with useful range. In Kacher's retelling, Mercedes' plans are even more ambitious, supposedly taking aim at the Model S and the coming Model X. It would do this with an investment in excess of $2 billion in a program called "Ecoluxe" – Mercedes has no brand division akin to BMW's i and Audi's e-tron. The new brand would create a four-strong family of bespoke electric vehicles: a smaller platform with a wheelbase around 106 inches and a larger one with a wheelbase around 118 inches. In addition, the range would have "provisions for rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, and rear-wheel steering." The numbers are impressive: seating for seven in the larger vehicles, both longer than 16 feet, front and rear storage areas, ratings of up to 610 horsepower and production capacity of 80,000 units per year. When would we see such creatures? Perhaps as soon as 2019. We do know that if Tesla can knock the Model X over the outfield fence, automakers are going to have to do something. We don't know what the chances are that Ecoluxe is Mercedes' first move - but such a plan could help explain the weird Mercedes concept spied in October.