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Britain orders 10,000 ventilators from F1/McLaren/Mercedes/Ford/Rolls-Royce/Airbus

Paramedics and ambulance personnel get instructions from a command unit outside London's ExCel Centre arena, which is being turned into a 4,000 bed temporary hospital called NHS Nightingale to deal with coronavirus patients. The hospital is due to open Monday, March 30. / AP     LONDON — Britain has ordered 10,000 ventilators from a consortium of leading aerospace, engineering and Formula One racing companies which will start production this week in response to an urgent government call for industry to help save lives. The 27-strong team, including Airbus, BAE Systems, Ford and Rolls-Royce, have joined forces to ramp up production of a ventilator made by Smiths Group, which supports those with complications from COVID-19. The consortium, which also includes seven Formula One teams including McLaren and Mercedes, home to World Champion Lewis Hamilton, said they had pulled staff off existing projects to meet the national need. Some 1,228 people have died from coronavirus in the United Kingdom and a senior health official said on Saturday the country would be doing well if it manages to keep the death toll below 20,000. "This consortium brings together some of the most innovative companies in the world," Dick Elsy, the head of the consortium, said in a statement. "I am confident this consortium has the skills and tools to make a difference and save lives." The United Kingdom, which initially only had 5,000 ventilators available in its National Health Service, has been trying to secure additional supplies after realising it needed 30,000 to cope with the peak of the outbreak. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is now in isolation in Downing Street after testing positive for coronavirus, made an emergency appeal earlier this month for manufacturers to retool their production lines and start making specialist health equipment including ventilators. Britain now has about 8,000 ventilators, with another 8,000 on order from international manufacturers that are due in coming weeks. Last week it placed an order for a newly-designed model from the vacuum cleaner company Dyson that will need to be approved by the health regulator. Mercedes part of a separate effort, too Separately on Monday a second consortium including Mercedes Formula One and other F1 teams said it had developed in less than a week a new version of a breathing aid that can help coronavirus patients.

2013 Mercedes-Benz GLK250 Bluetec gets 33 mpg, priced from $38,950*

It's been more than a year since we first saw the 2013 Mercedes-Benz GLK250 Bluetec unveiled at the 2012 New York Auto Show, but it looks like the compact diesel crossover is finally starting to roll into dealerships. Those wanting to buy a diesel GLK will only have to pony up an extra $1,500 over a base, gas-powered GLK350, as the GLK250's starting price is listed at $38,590 (*not including $905 destination charge).
The turbocharged 2.1-liter four-cylinder diesel produces 200 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque, and Mercedes-Benz has also provided some fuel economy numbers for this model, with claimed EPA estimates of 24 miles per gallon city and 33 mpg highway. There is no listing for the GLK250 on the EPA's website yet, but the figures represent significant increase over the GLK350's lackluster 19 mpg city and 25 mpg highway figures, which are for the rear-wheel drive model. The GLK250 comes standard with the 4Matic all-wheel-drive system - a $2,000 option on GLK350 - meaning that if you want an all-wheel-drive version of the 2013 GLK, it's actually cheaper to opt for the diesel model. Head over to the Mercedes-Benz site for the full 2013 GLK-Class configurator.

Jalopnik and Consumer Reports see who can pull off the best snow drift

The weather throughout much of the United States is pretty awful at the moment with some combination of extremely low temperatures, inches of snow and maybe some ice underneath it all. The folks at Jalopnik and Consumer Reports are making the absolute best out of a difficult situation by heading to CR's snow-covered test track and attempting to make the longest drift in a quartet of very different performance vehicles. Jalopnik brought along a Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S Wagon, a Subaru WRX STI, a BMW 228i and a 1973 Volkswagen Baja Bug (heck yeah!) for the challenge. Also, the track was perfect for this group, with a mix of packed snow in places and still a few inches of unsullied powder in spots too. Ostensibly the goal was to get the tail to step out through a particular corner, but in reality this was more about having hilarious fun in the snow with fast cars. The result just looks like the best time humanly possible in this weather.