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2015 Mercedes-Benz CLS400 [w/video]

Rocky IV debuted in 1985 but it was a few years later that I first watched it, on video. I loved every second of that terrible movie. I loved Drago's super-high-tech demonstration of punching power. I loved Rocky training in a Russian barn, with ropes, and yokes, and wagons. But mostly I loved Brigitte Nielsen. My 10-year-old brain sweated her impossible combination of curves and sharp edges, demure eyes, and sculpted bone structure. The perfect woman, but evolved by the power of the dark-hearted Soviet Union (or Denmark, whatever, I was ten). Red Sonja has a lot in common with the latest version of the Mercedes-Benz CLS, as I see it. Mercedes created a new market niche with its first four-door coupe, a sedan so well-proportioned, flowing, and femininely curved that it could pull off its inaccurate moniker. The third evolution of the CLS you see here has Nielsened up the shape into something altogether more angular and edgy, but like 1985's Brigitte, retains an undeniable sex appeal. It's a more opinionated piece of auto design than was the original CLS. And also a car that bifurcates the space between luxury coupe and luxury sedan. Ludmilla Drago would undoubtedly understand. Driving Notes For the base engine of a 4,200-pound car, the CLS400's two-turbo V6 does better than just get out of its own way. The full 354 pound-feet of torque is available way down at 1,600 revs, and plateaus until 4,000, giving you a fat band in which to call up power. Acceleration is available in the form of a quiet, gracious, but not aggressive push at just about every speed. From inside the cabin, the engine and exhaust noises are pleasantly rumbling, though muted. But do yourself a favor and try not to listen to the CLS tick over while standing around the driveway. When the car first pulled up in mine, warm from some 40 miles of highway, it still sounded an awful lot like a 2.0T on a mid-March morning. Not to belabor the Brigitte metaphor, but I found as much Neilsenian dichotomy in the ride and handling as I did the exterior styling. Especially with Mercedes' 4Matic system spreading out the grip, I found the CLS to be sharp when pushed, and rather excellent in terms of making quick corrections while under a cornering load. And yet, you've got to push through an initially soft suspension response to reach that hard edge. The CLS will initially resist being tossed around a winding backroad, but press on and she'll do as you ask.

Mercedes spent ˆ250 million to win Formula One titles last year

Success in Formula One requires skill, diligence, commitment and ingenuity. It also takes truckloads of money. In the case of Mercedes in last year's world championship, in which it took both the drivers' and constructors' titles in dominant style, those truckloads came to ˆ250 million last season alone – equivalent to over $285m in dead presidents. A report from Germany's own Auto Motor und Sport details the staggering investment that Mercedes made in order to get to the winner's circle last season. After 15 seasons with McLaren netting one constructors' and three drivers' titles, Mercedes motorsport chief Norbert Haug convinced the Daimler board late in 2009 to take over the Brawn GP team that had just won the championship. Because the team would be getting a large payout from Bernie Ecclestone as the returning champions the following year, and with sponsors lined up, Daimler only had to pony up a small portion of a smaller budget: in 2010 (its first season under the Mercedes banner), the team ran on a budget of "only" ˆ153 million ($175m). Over the course of the following seasons, though, the team's share of the TV revenues from Formula One Management went down as Mercedes struggled to climb back up the standings, but successive advocates (including Haug, Ross Brawn and Niki Lauda) successfully convinced the bean-counters in Stuttgart to ratchet up the payments. By 2012, the budget was expanded to ˆ200 million, and further climbed to ˆ250 million in 2013 and 2014. Fortunately for Daimler, the investment was starting to pay off by then as the team finished second in the constructors' standings in 2013, bringing ˆ74 million in from Ecclestone's coffers to cover roughly a third of the budget. With Malaysian oil giant Petronas alone kicking in upwards of another ˆ30 million per season as title sponsor (as of 2009 when it signed on), and untold millions more coming in from other partners, it looks like the actual cost to Daimler for securing both world titles and a winning reputation was actually more like hundred million or so.

The UK votes for Brexit and it will impact automakers

It's the first morning after the United Kingdom voted for what's become known as Brexit – that is, to leave the European Union and its tariff-free internal market. Now begins a two-year process in which the UK will have to negotiate with the rest of the EU trading bloc, which is its largest export market, about many things. One of them may be tariffs, and that could severely impact any automaker that builds cars in the UK. This doesn't just mean companies that you think of as British, like Mini and Jaguar. Both of those automakers are owned by foreign companies, incidentally. Mini and Rolls-Royce are owned by BMW, Jaguar and Land Rover by Tata Motors of India, and Bentley by the VW Group. Many other automakers produce cars in the UK for sale within that country and also export to the EU. Tariffs could damage the profits of each of these companies, and perhaps cause them to shift manufacturing out of the UK, significantly damaging the country's resurgent manufacturing industry. Autonews Europe dug up some interesting numbers on that last point. Nissan, the country's second-largest auto producer, builds 475k or so cars in the UK but the vast majority are sent abroad. Toyota built 190k cars last year in Britain, of which 75 percent went to the EU and just 10 percent were sold in the country. Investors are skittish at the news. The value of the pound sterling has plummeted by 8 percent as of this writing, at one point yesterday reaching levels not seen since 1985. Shares at Tata Motors, which counts Jaguar and Land Rover as bright jewels in its portfolio, were off by nearly 12 percent according to Autonews Europe. So what happens next? No one's terribly sure, although the feeling seems to be that the jilted EU will impost tariffs of up to 10 percent on UK exports. It's likely that the UK will reciprocate, and thus it'll be more expensive to buy a European-made car in the UK. Both situations will likely negatively affect the country, as both production of new cars and sales to UK consumers will both fall. Evercore Automotive Research figures the combined damage will be roughly $9b in lost profits to automakers, and an as-of-yet unquantified impact on auto production jobs. Perhaps the EU's leaders in Brussels will be in a better mood in two years, and the process won't devolve into a trade war. In the immediate wake of the Brexit vote, though, the mood is grim, the EU leadership is angry, and investors are spooked.