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European automakers gear up for Brazilian production

Brazil is the place to be, apparently. Toyota has been investing in the South American country, as has BMW, which announced a $261 million investment in October 2012, on the heels of an Audi factory announcement in San José Chiapa. The high-end immigration is only set to continue, as Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar-Land Rover have both announced plans to set up manufacturing operations there.
Mercedes is the big news here, as its new facility will see the German manufacturer invest 170-million euros for production of its next-generation C-Class and upcoming GLA-Class. "Brazil is an important future market. With our local production we accept the challenge and take on the competition," noted Andreas Renschler, Management Board member for Production and Procurement at Mercedes-Benz Cars and Mercedes-Benz Vans. Production is expected to begin by 2016.
Jaguar-Land Rover, meanwhile, isn't so concrete in its plans. The news of its investment in South America comes from a job posting for a plant quality manager in Brazil that was picked up by the UK's AutoCar. "Portuguese language skills will be definite advantage" for interested candidates, according to the job listing. The want ad follows on the heels of remarks by Jaguar Land Rover's Dr. Ralph Speth, who said there are "very intensive discussions" with Brazil's government. Unlike Mercedes, there's no mention of which vehicles will be produced in South America, although AutoCar thinks the Freelander, sold in the US as the LR2, is a leading contender.

Promo video shows what the Mercedes G500 4x4 can do

The Mercedes-Benz G500 4x42 is still nominally a show car, but it they're not treating it like one. They've provided their usual video follow-up to the press release and still photo launch, and they've made enough of the beasts to hold a press launch in Granada, Spain. It's even got AMG's brand new twin-turbo V8 engine in it, one that gets the 6,000-pound truck from 0-62 miles per hour in about 6.5 seconds. The only thing it needs to be a going concern is license plates; we guarantee it's not waiting on customers. Autocar could be jumping the gun, but they say it's expected to go on sale later this year for a price in excess of 200,000 pounds ($308,770 US) in the UK. Above is the promotional video, below is footage from GT Spirit from the press launch – notice how the G63 AMG in the background looks, shall we say, pedestrian. We're going to be crawling all over this truck at the Geneva Motor Show, and if we can find the keys, we might even drive it over the other show cars and out the door... or the nearest wall. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Mercedes CLA45 AMG Racing is ready for a spot on the grid

Mercedes-Benz trotted out its CLA45 AMG-based racer at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show. We first showed you the sedan in the deluge of news and reveals that precedes most good auto shows, and were blown away by the car, formally known as the CLA45 AMG Racing Series.
We were strolling by the Mercedes stand, and figured we'd pop in and take a look at the new racer and its carbon-fiber body panels, gutted interior, and race-sourced aero parts. It's a looker, both as a road car and a track weapon. It's not clear what series the CLA45 AMG will qualify for, although it does seem like a shoe-in for the World Touring Car Championship. Let us know what you think of the CLA racer down in the comments. In the meantime, we've got a full gallery of live images up top, along with the stock images that were posted last week on the Mercedes-Benz Facebook page.