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Performance cars old and new are headed to auction at Las Vegas Grand Prix

Auction house RM Sotheby's is hosting a sale ahead of the 2023 Las Vegas Formula One Grand Prix, and most of the lots that will cross the block were designed with performance in mind. Whether you want a supercar or a Formula One car, there's a chance you'll find it in Sin City. One of the highlights from the sale in terms of rarity and price is the Mercedes-AMG Petronas W04 that Lewis Hamilton drove in the 2013 F1 season. Assigned chassis number F1W04-04, it's the team's last car powered by a naturally-aspirated V8 engine, and you're on the wrong track if you're thinking of the 4.0-liter unit that powers AMG's road cars. The engine in question is a 2.4-liter unit that develops 750 horsepower and is capable of revving to a screaming 18,000 rpm. The KERS system injects 80 additional horses into the driveline. Hamilton drove F1W04-04 in 14 of the 2013 season's 19 races, and he won that year's Hungarian Grand Prix in the car. RM Sotheby's notes that F1W04-04 is "the sole example to be sold outside of the Mercedes-Benz organization," which explains why it expects the car will sell for anywhere between $10 million and $15 million excluding the buyer's fee and a 2.5% import duty that applies to American residents. That's a lot of money, but modern Formula One cars rarely come up for sale. Several other cars are expected to sell above the $1 million mark, including a 1999 Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR ($8 million to $9 million), a 1988 Porsche 959 Komfort ($1,650,000 to $1,850,000), and a 1996 Bugatti EB110 Super Sport ($2,500,000 to $3,250,000). The 1990 Ferrari F40 GT (one of 21 units built) could bring up to $4 million. You can take home a rare, high-end classic even if you cap your budget at $1 million. How about a 1984 Lamborghini Countach 5000 S that was delivered new to Ralph Lauren and that has been in the hands of its second owner since 1986? RM expects the coupe will sell for up to $900,000. The auction house is also giving enthusiasts two distinctly different ways to spend a six-digit sum on a 30-something-year-old Mercedes-Benz. There's a 1990 190E 2.5-16 Evolution with about 3,400 original miles that could fetch up to $700,000. That's a lot to pay for a W201, but this isn't a run-of-the-mill Baby Benz: It's one of 502 examples built for homologation purposes. Alternatively, the 1989 560SEC AMG 6.0 Wide-Body could sell for up to $900,000. It's one of the most emblematic cars designed by AMG before it joined Mercedes-Benz.

Daimler boss says fuel cell vehicles will be disappointing for at least 10 years

Daimler AG CEO Dieter Zetsche is pretty confident about the imminence of self-driving cars. Hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles? Not so much. He didn't even get into the possibility of self-driving fuel-cell vehicles, but we're okay taking future technologies one at a time. Zetsche, in an interview from the Detroit Auto Show last week, said the automotive industry is about a decade away from avoiding disappointing experiences with production fuel-cell vehicles, In Auto News says. Zetsche was quick to note that the Mercedes-Benz parent entered into a fuel-cell partnership with Ford and Nissan early last year in an effort to split costs and speed things along, with the expectation that the group would develop something together by 2017, but even that won't be able to smooth things out fully. Toyota and Hyundai have said they'd have their own production vehicles on the road sooner than that. Multi-corporation-partnerships notwithstanding, Zetsche bemoaned the high costs, lack of vehicle volume and minimal refueling infrastructure as the proverbial roadblocks to more rapid development and adoption of fuel-cell vehicles. As it is, the US has just 10 publicly accessible hydrogen refueling stations, eight of which are in Southern California, according to the US Department of Energy. As for autonomous automobiles, Zetsche was more upbeat. Daimler already has what it calls the "Distronic" cruise control system that includes an automatic braking feature and has successfully driven a car 60 miles with "with relatively modest adjustments to the existing onboard technology." Featured Gallery Mercedes-Benz F-Cell View 9 Photos News Source: In Auto News Green Mercedes-Benz Hydrogen Cars

The BMW M8 leads this month's list of discounts

Back in June of this year, the BMW 8 Series was the most heavily discounted vehicle in America. This month, it's the 617-horsepower M8. Midsummer buyers of the 2020 BMW M8, which is offered in hardtop, convertible and four-door Gran Coupe bodystyles, were seeing an average of $6,150 cut off the sticker; this month that figure has ballooned all the way to $16,864. That's more than 11% off the car's $150,000-plus retail price, and, according to data provided by TrueCar, it's the largest dollar amount sliced off the retail price of any car for the month of September. Next is the Maserati Quattroporte, buyers of which are saving $15,912 for an average transaction price of $99,763. If that's still too expensive, the smaller Ghibli's $70,030 average transaction price represents a huge 14.5% discount, earning the Italian sedan entry into our monthly top 10 best deals list.  The third largest monetary discount in September comes off the $131,066 sticker price of the lovely 2019 Mercedes-AMG GT. Take $15,473 off that sum for an average transaction price of $115,593. For a look at the best new car deals in America based on the percentage discount off their suggested asking prices, check out our monthly recap here. And when you're ready to buy, click here for the Autoblog Smart Buy program, which brings you a hassle-free buying experience with over 9,000 Certified Dealers nationwide. BMW Maserati Mercedes-Benz Car Buying Coupe Luxury Performance Sedan consumer best deals biggest discount