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Mercedes-AMG gears up for 2016 DTM with new C63 Coupe

Mercedes was once a force to be reckoned with in DTM. The Silver Star marque won six drivers' championships and nine constructors' titles since the modern Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series rebooted in 2000. But though it's currently leading the standings, the last time it won the championship was in 2010. Audi and BMW have traded bragging rights each year since. What you see here, then, is the vehicle by which Benz hopes to recapture its former glory in the German tin-top racing series. Presented alongside the Edition 1 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the new touring car is based – stylistically at least – on the new C63 AMG Coupe, but is designed specifically for the race track. Underneath the largely carbon-fiber bodywork sits a 4.0-liter V8 engine driving 483 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque through a six-speed sequential gearbox to the rear wheels. It's suspended by pushrod-actuated by double wishbones and features a mechanical diff (but no traction control) and carbon-ceramic brakes (but no ABS). In short, the new C63 is all business. And it looks about ready to take on Germany's most famous racing circuits and those of some of its neighbors – from Hockenheim, the Nurburgring, and the EuroSpeedway Lausitz to Zandvoort, the Red Bull Ring, and the Moscow Raceway. Audi and BMW had better watch their mirrors. Mercedes-AMG DTM Team present 2016 race car - Looking ahead to the 2016 season: How the new DTM car fielded by the Mercedes-AMG DTM Team will look - Inspired by the DTM: AMG launch Edition 1 Mercedes-AMG C 63 Coupe - Five questions to Head of Mercedes-AMG DTM Ulrich Fritz - Overview: How Mercedes-Benz DTM vehicles have evolved - Ulrich Fritz: "Our aim with this vehicle is, of course, to continue the Mercedes-Benz success story in the DTM." The 2015 DTM season reaches its climax in September. But even before the final three race weekends of the year at Oschersleben, the Nurburgring and Hockenheim, the Mercedes-AMG DTM Team are providing an insight into what lies ahead for the race series, revealing the new car that they will enter for the 2016 campaign. Design adaptations to the 2016 Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM first began last year. The dynamic-looking headlights and the twin blade grille typical of the AMG are two of the car's most striking features. The first tests with the new vehicle will take place during the winter as part of preparations for the 2016 season.

New Mercedes E-Class nearly exposed, may be Maybach

The all-new Mercedes-Benz E-Class is marching closer and closer to production, with a new round of spy photos giving us our best look yet at the S-Class-inspired looks of the German brand's executive luxury car. There really is very little camouflage this time around – what's there looks more like the kind of plastic wrapping you'd see on a freshly imported vehicle at the port. In front, we can see the new E will wear similar LED accents to the S- and C-Class. The E-Class' big and little brothers also inspired the tail of the new model, where we can see slightly disguised, vertically oriented LED taillights. Prominent, enclosed exhausts are very similar to what we saw in our spy shots of the Mercedes-Maybach E-Class. Aside from the exhausts, this particular car also wears the same blingy wheels as the range-topping tester we spied last August. The thick-rimmed, multi-spoke design isn't the only giveaway to this car's luxurious intentions, though. Our last Maybach sighting showed a car completely covered in camo, making it difficult to tell just how large the rear doors are relative to the car we're seeing today. Instead of the doors, though, we suggest you look at the windows. Like the August spy photos, this prototype features tinted rear glass, which could perhaps indicate that we're looking at yet another example the second Mercedes-Maybach model. So is this yet another Maybach E-Class? We're leaning towards yes. The size of the back doors – and the rear quarter window, in particular – is close enough to what we saw last month, and the presence of tinted glass, the same exhausts, and the same wheels can't be discounted either.

Mercedes C-Class Cabriolet advances to prototype stage

Following up on last month's sighting of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe, we've got a pretty sizable update on the C-Class Cabriolet, after a prototype of the new droptop was spotted undergoing testing in Germany. A quick comparison with last year's spy photos shows that Mercedes has made a lot of progress, moving on to full-blown production prototypes with a minimal amount of camouflage. Really, though, we already knew what the C-Class Cab would look like – identical to a C-Class sedan below the beltline, although the tail will likely be a bit more sporting – these spy photos merely confirm that. Expect to see the production C-Class Cabriolet debut at (or more likely shortly before) the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show, where it will appear alongside the next-generation C-Class Coupe. Check out the spy photos up top. Related Video: