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2024 Mercedes-Maybach EQS 680 SUV tops $180,000

The 2024 Mercedes-Maybach EQS 680 SUV is staking claim to the "next era of driving pleasure," but that pleasure will come at a steep price. The company officially announced Wednesday that the super-lux, battery-electric SUV starts at $181,050 (assuming the $1,150 destination fee doesn't increase for 2024) — $50,000 more than the standard Mercedes-Benz EQS 580. And you can order one starting today.  While U.S. figures are still partially up in the air, we do have some preliminary specs. To go with its 649-horsepower output, the EQS 680 SUV was rated at 600 km of total range on the WLTP cycle, which works out to about 373 miles. While Mercedes-Benz doesn't have EPA figures to offer, the EQS 580 is rated at approximately 340 miles with the same pack and a very similar (613 km) WLTP-certified range. 0-60 comes in just 4.1 seconds on the way to a top speed of 130 MPH. Charging the EQS 680 SUV back up from 0% will take a bit longer — nearly 13 hours on a Level II AC charger — but DC fast charging (10-80%) takes just 31 minutes at its max throughput rate of 200 kW.  The Mercedes-Maybach EQS 680 SUV is available with five different two-tone color combinations. All of the two-tone options will feature the lighter color on the bottom half of the SUV, since the darker tone up top better accentuates the vehicleÂ’s aerodynamics. Maybach-specific design details include vertical metal-look lines in the EQSÂ’ faux grille and a Mercedes-Benz star ornament on the hood.  ThereÂ’s a Maybach logo on the D-pillar and the taillights have a unique running light pattern. Mercedes-Benz says 21-inch wheels are standard for now; larger 22-inch wheels, as well as a sixth two-tone paint option, will come later. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

World Car Of The Year down to its final four

Judges for the World Car of the Year Award have narrowed down the finalists to just four vehicles. Out of a total of 42 entries, only the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, Porsche Boxster/Cayman, Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ/Toyota GT-86 and Volkswagen Golf remain standing. For Volkswagen, this marks the second consecutive year the company has had an entry among the finalists, and the fourth time since 2009. In order to qualify, a vehicle must be on sale on two continents during the span of time between January 1, 2013 and May 30, 2013. A panel of 66 journalists from 23 countries then vote on the finalists.
Three vehicles have made the cut for the last round of voting on the 2013 World Performance Car as well, with the Cayman/Boxster and FR-S/BRZ/GT-86 running against the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta. Meanwhile, the Renault Zoe, Tesla Model S and Volvo V60 Plug-In Hybrid are duking it out for the World Green Car Award. Finally, the World Car Design of the Year Award is up for grabs between the Aston Martin Vanquish, Jaguar F-Type, and the Mazda6. Check out the full press release below. Overall winners will be presented at the 2013 New York Auto Show.

Poor headlights cause 40 cars to miss IIHS Top Safety Pick rating

Over the past few months, we've noticed a number of cars and SUVs that have come incredibly close to earning one of the IIHS's highest accolades, the Top Safety Pick rating. They have great crash test scores and solid automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning systems. What trips them up is headlights. That got us wondering, how many vehicles are there that are coming up short because they don't have headlights that meet the organization's criteria for an "Acceptable" or "Good" rating. This is a revision made after 2017, a year in which headlights weren't factored in for this specific award. This is also why why some vehicles, such as the Ford F-150, might have had the award last year, but have lost it for this year. We reached out to someone at IIHS to find out. He responded with the following car models. Depending on how you count, a whopping 40 models crash well enough to receive the rating, but don't get it because their headlights are either "Poor" or "Marginal." We say depending on how you count because the IIHS actual counts truck body styles differently, and the Infiniti Q70 is a special case. Apparently the version of the Q70 that has good headlights doesn't have adequate forward collision prevention technology. And the one that has good forward collision tech doesn't have good enough headlights. We've provided the entire list of vehicles below in alphabetical order. Interestingly, it seems the Volkswagen Group is having the most difficulty providing good headlights with its otherwise safe cars. It had the most models on the list at 9 split between Audi and Volkswagen. GM is next in line with 7 models. It is worth noting again that though these vehicles have subpar headlights and don't quite earn Top Safety Pick awards, that doesn't mean they're unsafe. They all score well enough in crash testing and forward collision prevention that they would get the coveted award if the lights were better.