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Brabus luxes up new Mercedes V-Class

Looking for a luxury coach to get you around town in style and comfort, but don't need anything as big as a Sprinter? Mercedes will gladly point you towards the smaller V-Class, trading Stateside as the Metris. And now Brabus has released a full array of customization options for the van as well. The list of modifications available from the venerable Benz tuner include an aero kit to give the van a sleeker look while reducing front-end lift, a full complement of 18- and 19-inch wheel options, a retuned suspension, engine enhancements, exhaust upgrade, and a fully refitted interior. The first-class cabin on this show vehicle has been reupholstered in leather and Alcantara, offset by wood and carbon-fiber trim, and a complete entertainment system. It includes a pair of 15.6-inch LCD screens that drop from the headliner and WiFi. Finally, there's a touchpad integrated into the interior C-pillars to operate the system as well as the lamps, heated seats, power windows and curtains, and the sliding doors. Accommodation is clearly the emphasis here. But Brabus being Brabus, it has also optimized the BlueTec four-cylinder turbo diesel engine to produce 44 more horsepower and 52 pound-feet more torque. With output now up to 232 hp and 376 lb-ft, the van will reach 62 miles per hour from a standstill in 8.8 seconds and top out at 130 mph – and look that much slicker in the process. Related Video: Engine tuning, exclusive looks and entertainment: BRABUS Exclusive Program for the new Mercedes V-Class The new Mercedes V-Class as a sporty-elegant jack-of-all-trades: in a world premiere, BRABUS (Brabus-Allee, D-46240 Bottrop, phone + 49 / (0) 2041 / 777-0, fax + 49 / (0) 2041 / 777 111, internet www.brabus.com) presents the exclusive refinement program for the new Mercedes V-Class. BRABUS upgrades the people mover with powerful engine tuning, an exclusive appearance package, tailor-made wheels and an individual entertainment concept. A sporty-elegant design is the trademark of the BRABUS aerodynamic-enhancement kit for the new Mercedes V-Class and Vito. All components are manufactured from PUR in OEM quality, giving them a precise fit and making them easy to paint. To give the vehicle an even more distinctive face, the BRABUS designers have developed attachments for the side air intakes, which can be complemented with auxiliary LED side markers, and a front spoiler that attaches to the lower section of the bumper.

Tesla says Model 3 is best-selling midsize premium sedan in America

Auto sales figures are sort of fuzzy numbers, no matter how you slice them and no matter which manufacturer you're talking about. Unless you're specifically tracking vehicle registrations, automakers generally self-report the figures. So, you have to trust that they aren't doing anything too tricky. Plus, not every sale is equal, as some are logged as dealership loaners or demo models, some go to fleets (like to a rental car agency), and still others are, of course, bought by traditional customers looking for a new daily driver. With that preamble out of the way, when we saw a tweet from Tesla claiming that the all-electric Model 3 is the best-selling midsize premium sedan in America, our interest was piqued. According to Tesla, market share of the Model 3 has just surpassed the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, which had up until now led the Audi A4, BMW 3 Series, and Lexus IS as the best-selling sedan in its class. Note that the graph from Tesla below is, we think, specific to four-door models. So, is it true? Judging by the numbers we can find, including some from Bloomberg, which has a running chart to track Model 3 registrations, the answer is... probably. We don't know exactly how many Model 3 sedans Tesla is currently cranking out, but Bloomberg estimates production at about 2,560 units per week, and total sales for 2018 at 34,414. We know the number is increasing regularly, though, and Elon Musk has said most recently production sits around 500 units per day, which, on a seven-day cycle, would be 3,500 per week. We looked up Mercedes' sales figures for the month of May, 2018, and found that the German brand sold 5,419 C-Class models last month, for a total of 23,917 for the year (incidentally, that's down more than 30 percent from the year prior). While the bulk of those sales would surely be made up of sedans, it would also include a small percentage of coupes. Either way, it's likely that Tesla is currently producing and selling more Model 3s than Mercedes is C-Classes. Now, it's also worth considering if the C-Class is the only vehicle from Mercedes that directly competes with the Model 3. We'd guess customers may also cross-shop the CLA sedan with the Tesla, and if that's the case, you might decide it's worth adding in Mercedes' 2,527 CLA-Class sales last month and 9,622 so far for the year. The same argument could be made for certain versions of the BMW 2 and 4 Series.

Mercedes-Benz Concept IAA is a modern silver aero

While we English-speaking folk call it the Frankfurt Motor Show, our German friends call this week's bi-annual confab the Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung, or IAA. At first glance, then, you might think Mercedes-Benz named its Frankfurt concept, the Concept IAA, after the show it'd debut at. But, the Concept IAA isn't named for the show. It's actually an abbreviation for Intelligent Aerodynamic Automobile, and it's very aerodynamic indeed. This four-door coupe can transform, while moving, from its sedan-like design mode to an ultra-sleek, gas-powered fish of a car. This aerodynamic mode has a drag coefficent of just 0.19. That's sleeker than a Tesla Model S, and it ties the rating of the General Motors EV1 electric car. In fact, it's very nearly as aerodynamic as the Volkswagen XL1. The IAA can transform automatically at 80 kilometers per hour (about 50 miles per hour) or via the press of a button. When it enters an aerodynamic mode, eight segments at the back of the car extend out, adding over 15 inches to the overall vehicle length, effectively extending its already tear-dropped-shaped tail. And that's just the most visible aero aid. At the front of the car, flaps in the bumper extend out nearly an inch, while there's a smaller extender in the back bumper. These serve to keep air away from the wheel arches, where turbulence can become an issue. Of course, Mercedes has thought of this, too, fitting "Active Rims" that "alter their cupping from 55 mm to zero," whatever that means. There's even an active aero aid inside the front bumper, where a louver extends backward by 2.3 inches to smooth out the air traveling underneath the car. Outside of its super-slippery mode, the IAA is a relatively handsome four-door coupe, featuring the kind of plunging roofline that wouldn't look out of place on the company's pioneering CLS-Class. The interior is certainly worthy of the CLS, too. It's home to gorgeous white leather and touch-based controls, and in general, looks very luxurious. Mercedes' dogged pursuit of aerodynamics does not mean that the Concept IAA is some gutless ecomobile. Under the skin is a gas-powered, plug-in hybrid system that produces up to 279 horsepower and allows the sleek sedan to hit 155 mph. Its all-electric range is based, of course, on what mode its body is in. It's most impressive in aero mode, where it will cover 41 miles on a single charge. Switch over to design mode, and that figure drops slightly to 38.5 miles.