2011 Mercedes Benz Gl450 4-matic Navigation on 2040-cars

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When Android Automotive goes in the dash, Google wins — and automakers lose data

You've gotta hand it to Google for the way the Silicon Valley tech giant has made indelible inroads into the car on multiple fronts. The most obvious is with its pioneering self-driving car technology that's caused car companies to get their act together on autonomous vehicles — and also collaborate with Google. Google has more directly extended its influence and data-mining capabilities into the car with its Android Auto smartphone-projection platform that most major automakers have adopted along with Apple's CarPlay. And now it's preparing to dig even deeper into dashboards by deploying its open-source operating system, Android Automotive, beginning with Audi and Volvo. Volvo recently announced that its next-generation Sensus infotainment system will run Android Automotive as an OS and include Google's Play Store for cloud-based content, Maps for navigation and Google Assistant for voice recognition, which can even command a car's climate control. By embedding Google in the dash, Volvo says owners will get an improved connected experience. "Bringing Google services into Volvo cars will accelerate innovation in connectivity and boost our development in applications and connected services," Volvo senior vice president of R&D Henrik Green said in a statement. "Soon, Volvo drivers will have direct access to thousands of in-car apps that make daily life easier and the connected in-car experience more enjoyable." Having Android Automotive onboard could benefit drivers — and provide a big win for Google, since it opens a deep and lucrative new data-mining vein for the company. But it's a wave of a white flag for car companies when it comes to delivering their own cloud-based content and services. It also represents a massive data giveaway and, for Audi, a reversal of earlier reservations about letting Google get too much access to car data. Not long after Android Auto and Apple CarPlay were introduced in 2014 and most automakers eagerly embraced the technologies, several German automakers second-guessed their decision when they realized what was at stake: data. At a conference in Berlin in 2015, Audi CEO Rupert Stadler said car owners "want to be in control of their data, and not subject to monitoring." A few months earlier, Stadler stated that "the data that we collect is our data and not Google's.

Weekly Recap: Mercedes continues the pseudo-coupe craze with AMG-tuned CUV

But as BMW's X6 has demonstrated, sport sells in in the crossover segment, and Mercedes is giving the people what they want. BMW proved there is a market for crossover utility vehicles designed to look like coupes – as much as a vehicle with four doors and noticeable ground clearance can look like a coupe, anyway. Now comes the reply from Mercedes-Benz: the GLE Coupe. The rakish crossover is a harbinger of things to come from Mercedes, as it begins the company's transition to a new nomenclature and marks the debut of the AMG Sport line. It also continues the recent coupe craze. Designers from many automakers, like Nissan and Volkswagen, have increasingly turned to swoopy, dramatic styling to make utility vehicles and sedans seem more desirable. By revealing the GLE 450 AMG Sport model first, Mercedes is clearly hoping to cast the GLE Coupe as a sportier, lifestyle-oriented alternative in its lineup of beefy crossovers and SUVs. Mercedes used the word "sport," or a variation of it, 53 times in its press release, so uh yeah, it's sporty. It's not an empty promise: Benz means business with the AMG Sport line. This GLE Coupe gets a 3.0-liter biturbo V6 rated at 362 horsepower and 384 pound-feet of torque paired with Mercedes' new nine-speed automatic transmission, and it runs with 4Matic all-wheel drive. Specs on the other GLE Coupe models were not disclosed. But as BMW's X6 has demonstrated, sport sells in in the crossover segment, and Mercedes is giving the people what they want. After all, more than 260,000 people have bought X6s since 2008, and Mercedes wants a piece of that. From certain angles, the GLE Coupe even looks vaguely like an X6. "This is really a vehicle that is all about status," said Dave Sullivan, product analysis manager for research firm AutoPacific. "You can buy a SUV that doesn't have the inherent qualities of a SUV, such as cargo hauling. People will likely be drawn to the looks. Coupes are all the rage." BMW, however, isn't running from the fight, and the updated 2015 X6 is arriving in showrooms this month. It also added a smaller sibling, the X4, to its coupe-crossover stable in July. The GLE Coupe arrives next year, though Mercedes hasn't specified exactly when it will hit showrooms from the factory in Alabama, or specified details on the rest of the non-AMG Sport models. In 2008, it was surprising the X6 was a hit. In 2015, it will be even more surprising if the GLE Coupe isn't.

Mercedes raises the roof on new CLA Shooting Brake [UPDATE]

UPDATE: As we feared, the CLA Shooting Brake is not currently slated for US availability. The text below has been adjusted accordingly. Of all the variants in Mercedes' smallest line, only one doesn't have a liftgate, and that's the CLA-Class. But don't worry, the German automaker is out to fix that too with the reveal of the new CLA Shooting Brake you see here. Based on the same platform that underpins the CLA four-door coupe, the A-Class hatchback, B-Class minivan and GLA crossover, the new Shooting Brake applies a similar formula we've already seen on the bigger CLS Shooting Brake but in a much smaller form – which is to say, it's a wagon, but a shapely one. The revised roofline means more headroom in the back seat and significantly more cargo capacity than the four-door's trunk. Mercedes will offer the CLA with a variety of engine choices, including a 2.1-liter turbodiesel with either 136 or 177 horsepower, a 1.6-liter four with 122, 156 or 211 horsepower. That last model will even be available with 4Matic all-wheel drive for those not enamored by the idea of a front-drive Benz, but the top of the range, of course, is the CLA45 AMG Shooting Brake that carries the same 2.0-liter turbo four – all 360 horsepower of it – as the four-door CLA45 as well as the A45 and GLA45. Driving once again to all four wheels, Daimler says it'll reach 62 in 4.7 seconds (even quicker than the crossover) and top out at the usual 155 miles per hour. Of course those options only apply to markets where the new Shooting Brake will be offered. And unfortunately, Mercedes-Benz USA confirmed to Autoblog that (like the CLS wagon) the CLA Shooting Brake won't be making the transatlantic voyage to US showrooms (where the E-Class is the only low-slung Benz wagon on offer). That leaves the four-door CLA and the GLA crossover still holding down the pint-sized fort for Mercedes. THE NEW MERCEDES-BENZ CLA SHOOTING BRAKE: SPACE FOR SOMETHING NEW Stuttgart. Breathtakingly sporty proportions and a powerfully dynamic design idiom with sensuously shaped surfaces already made the CLA unmistakable in its four-door Coupe guise. It is now followed by a further design icon, the CLA Shooting Brake, with a unique look all of its own. The lower overall height and the elongated coupe-style roof contour line, the low greenhouse and the sweep of the high beltline are the key design features of its distinctive profile.