2008 Mercedes Sl 550 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Mercedes moves R-Class production to AM General in Indiana

Go back a decade or two and you'd have seen the SUV market polarizing in opposite directions: hard-core off-roaders like the Hummer on the one hand, and passenger-focused crossovers like the Mercedes R-Class on the other. Now their fates are set to intertwine, at least as far as manufacturing is concerned. No longer producing Hummers, AM General (which designed and originally produced the Hummer) has been assigned the task of manufacturing the R-Class at its underused, 675,000 square-foot Commercial Assembly Plant in Mishawaka, IN – part of metropolitan South Bend. The decision was undertaken to allow Mercedes to free up production capacity at its plant in Tuscaloosa, AL, where it also produces the M-Class, GL-Class and C-Class, and where it will soon begin manufacturing the GLE Coupe. The vacation of the R-Class assembly line could be earmarked to make room for that new slant-roofed crossover (which was originally thought to be joining the Tuscaloosa plant as a fifth model) or could pave the way for another model to reach Alabama altogether. The multi-year arrangement to manufacture the R-Class makes AM General the first manufacturer contracted to build Mercedes-Benz vehicles in the US, but hardly the only one in the world. The G-Class – which could, incidentally, be characterized as the German equivalent of the Hummer – is built on Mercedes' behalf by Magna Steyr in Austria, and the company builds many of its passenger and commercial vehicles for local consumption under joint ventures in the Far East especially. The R-Class was first introduced in 2005, and though it's still built in America, it was removed from the company's US lineup back in 2012. However Mercedes confirms that, since 2013, it has been and remains available exclusively in China. That puts the R-Class in the rare position of being manufactured in the United States by (or now for) a foreign automaker but unavailable for sale here. AM General Selected As Mercedes-Benz First and Only Contract Manufacturer of Vehicles in the United States SOUTH BEND, Ind., Jan. 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- AM General LLC and Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Inc., today announced that Mercedes-Benz has selected AM General to manufacture the Mercedes-Benz R-Class luxury vehicle at AM General's world-class 675,000 square-foot Commercial Assembly Plant.

New Mercedes Unimog debuts to the cheers of little boys everywhere [w/video]

The Mercedes Unimog, the superhero villain of the off-road world that's just waiting to make the jump to Transformer, has been completely upgraded for its new generation. There are ten models, expanding the range and getting new designations across the traditional all-terrain series and the implement-carrier series. Panoramic cabins get more visibility, multifunction steering wheels and better dash clusters, improved HVAC and a three-mode central tire inflation system. Outside, there are new items like LED headlights and daytime running lamps in the bumper, roof-mounted windshield wipers and a front-camera monitor for the implement carrier.
The new engine lineup is compliant with Euro VI, featuring four- and six-cylinder BlueEfficiency engines putting out anywhere from 156 horsepower to 354 hp. Powerplant placement has also been tweaked, the chassis members getting a revised curve to place the engine a bit further back and lower, maintaining off-road clearance and lowering the Unimog's center of gravity. The new location of the engine means the cabin has more room, and the wheelbase is shorter. Combined with a higher turning angle, the Unimog has a smaller turning radius than before.
The implement carrier gets what's called a "synergistic traveling drive," the bonus being that drivers don't need to stop in order to use an attachment - a hydrostatic transmission works with the regular manual transmission at up to 31 kilometers per hour for seamless switching.

Mercedes GLS updates Silver Star seven-seater

It can be bewildering, the staggering array of crossovers and SUVs offered by Mercedes-Benz. There's the G, the GL, the GLK and the GLA, not to mention the new GLE and the ML that basically started it all. So you can forgive yourself if you've never heard of the GLS. After all, it doesn't currently exist. But it will soon. In accordance with Benz's new nomenclature, the GLS-Class will be the replacement for the GL – the largest of the Mercedes utility vehicles and the only one with three rows of seats. Since the current GL was only launched about two and a half years ago, the new nameplate won't be attached to an all-new model just yet. But as you can see from these spy shots, it appears that Mercedes is preparing a facelifted version of the existing model to fit into the new (or at least renamed) lineup. The biggest changes discernible from these spy shots is the revised front end, with new headlights, a more upright grille and a reshaped bumper and hood to go along with it. Around back the changes are more subtle, with reshaped tail lamps, bumper and exhaust pipes. Inside we're expecting a cleaner center console with a new 8-inch touchscreen reportedly inspired by the iPhone. We don't know when, exactly, to expect the revised GLS to arrive on the scene, but given the relatively modest nature of the revisions and how close they look to being ready, we wouldn't expect it to be long now. Whether those minor changes will be enough to keep up with the all-new Audi Q7 just announced, however, is another matter entirely.