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Maybach and Aston Martin alliance talks fall apart

If you have, like us, been salivating at the notion of a new generation of Maybach and Lagonda ultra-luxury crafts built by Aston Martin, we've got some bad news: According to reports emanating from Germany, talks between AML and Daimler have broken down.
The proposal under negotiation would have seen Daimler outsourcing production of the next family of Maybach models to Aston Martin, which in return would benefit from Mercedes-Benz platforms and engines - not only for its svelte GTs, but also for its own future Lagonda line of limousines and luxury SUVs. That, and a boatload of money - or at least that's what AML was reportedly seeking, an issue that served as the stumbling block over which the deal reportedly collapsed.
That's not to say the two parties couldn't still reach some sort of a compromise, but short of that, Daimler may opt to either shut down Maybach altogether, find another partner, or take another stab at building new models internally.

A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.

Mercedes-AMG GT and C63 to serve as F1 safety, medical cars

Mercedes has spent nearly 20 years providing the safety and medical cars for Formula 1, so it was hardly a shock when the company announced that the new Mercedes-AMG GT and C63 AMG S Estate would serve as ushers in the F1 circus. The two turbocharged monsters replace the old SLS AMG safety car and C63 AMG wagon medical car, which have served in one trim or another since 2010 and 2008, respectively. The biggest change for either car is, of course, the lightbar. It's been mounted atop a carbon-fiber hoop on the AMG GT that Mercedes says optimizes airflow to that big rear wing. Meanwhile, the location of the lights was confirmed via wind tunnel testing. In the cockpit, two iPads allow the AMG GT's passenger, fuel analyst Peter Tibbetts, to monitor the race's world feed while also keeping an eye on race data. The tablets stay connected via an in-car, wireless internet connection. Changes for the C63 S wagon are less extensive. It gets a lightbar and the usual signaling systems in the headlights and taillights, while the cargo compartment includes both a respirator and a defibrillator, to manage more serious medical emergencies. As with the AMG GT, the C63 is finished in F1's traditional silver safety/medical car livery. Beyond these changes, both vehicles are just as potent as those that can be purchased at dealers. Both cars feature a 4.0-liter, 510-horsepower, twin-turbocharged V8, while a seven-speed AMG Speedshift transmission dispatches the grunt with lightning-quick shifts. So equipped, the AMG GT will hit 60 in 3.8 seconds and the C63 can get there in 4.1 seconds. Check out the full gallery of both cars, decked out in their F1 liveries, available up top. Related Video: Mercedes-AMG GT S and C 63 S in action for the 2015 Formula 1® season: Maximum safety, maximum performance Affalterbach, Mar 06, 2015 Baptism of fire on the race track: The GT S and the C 63 S – the new high-performance cars from Mercedes-AMG - provide for maximum safety in the 2015 FIA Formula One World Championship™. At the first Grand Prix in Melbourne, Australia (12 to 15 March 2015) the GT S will debut on the race track as the Official Safety Car of the FIA Formula One World Championship™. As the Official Medical Car of the FIA Formula One World Championship™, the C 63 S Estate will be on hand to provide fast emergency medical care. Mercedes-AMG has been active continuously at the pinnacle of motorsport since 1996.