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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-Maybach GLS prototype caught testing with its big new grille

The new Mercedes-Benz GLS is a massive tech fortress on wheels, so the Maybach GLS is bound to be a massive tech castle. Last we heard from the gigantic Benz SUV was that it was going to be built at Mercedes’ Alabama plant. With a starting price expected to be around $200,000, itÂ’ll probably be the most expensive vehicle produced in the U.S. These spy shots give us an idea of what weÂ’re going to be looking at when the production SUV is finally revealed. Our first hint that this prototype is a Maybach is the grille. It looks suspiciously similar to the grille on the Vision Mercedes-Maybach Concept with all the vertical slats running down the big maw. Minimal camouflage is disguising the exterior for the most part, but we imagine Mercedes is hiding any of the gaudier parts of the car itÂ’d like to save for a big reveal. The exhaust outlets sure do look a bit different than the regular GLS, but the outside is generally the same as what we see today. As for the interior, thatÂ’s where most of the magic is expected to happen. A significantly overhauled look is inevitable, with the focus on even more luxurious materials than the most expensive norm-core GLS. A rear seat that's fit for a king or two is likely, along with Maybach-exclusive tech to boot. For now, we canÂ’t see in the heavily camouflaged and taped-off windows, leaving us to wonder about the luxury within. This Mercedes-Maybach is expected to compete with other massively expensive SUVs like the Bentley Bentayga or a fully decked-out Range Rover.  Everything thatÂ’s optional on the GLS should come as standard here, including the trick E-Active Body Control suspension. Look for a reveal coming in the not-so-distant future, as this prototype doesnÂ’t look terribly far from production to us. Featured Gallery Mercedes-Maybach GLS View 12 Photos Spy Photos Maybach Mercedes-Benz SUV Luxury

Mercedes has already booked 30k orders for new S-Class

When Toyota snags 30,000 Corolla orders over a three-month span, it's entirely possible we're in the midst of a global economic collapse and that the end is nigh. That's because the scale for Toyota is so very large. Mercedes-Benz, on the other hand, operates on a much smaller scale, particularly when we talk about its higher-end models, like the S-Class.
In 2012, Mercedes sold 65,000 of its flagship sedans in Germany and the EU. That's 178 units per day, for 365 days. Based on that, you can imagine the excitement at Stuttgart when it accepted 30,000 orders for the new S-Class in just three months. That's an average of 333 per day on a continent with a notoriously shaky economy. Now, admittedly, this enthusiasm could wane as the refitted S-Class becomes more common and Mercedes achieves market saturation in Europe's many chauffeur and livery services, but Mercedes isn't choosing to look at it that way.
"The new S-Class has already jumped back into the lead in terms of new vehicle registrations in Germany and its neighboring European countries," Mercedes-Benz head of sales and marketing, Ola Kaellenius, said in a statement last week.