2006 Mercedes-benz Cls55 Amg (one Of A Kind) on 2040-cars

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Mercedes plotting E-Class Maybach, next A-Class for the US?

Mercedes-Benz has opened 2015 by hinting at a host of new products. Dieter Zetsche nudged the idea that there'll be a Maybach-branded SUV. AMG chief Tobias Moers told Motor Trend that "We want to be seen by the public on the same level as the other sports car maker in Germany" when asked if his crew was working on a car to rival the Porsche 918 Spyder. That and a few other tidbits have people thinking that we'll eventually see some sort of celestial AMG supercar. The latest handful of hints came from Mercedes USA CEO Steve Cannon during an interview on the marque's move to Atlanta. Cannon told Automotive News that we'd "see more from the Maybach brand," leaving the impression that there "could" be an E-Class draped in the superluxury trim. If such came to pass, there's plenty of pricing room between the E and the S-Class to slot a higher trim in. The top non-AMG E-Class starts at $62,350, the S-Class opens the bidding at $94,400. Even if you slapped the E-Class with the $23,000 premium it takes to make an S600 a Maybach S600, you've still got plenty of breathing room between the midsized and full-sized sedans. At the antipodal end, Cannon told AN that we could get a front-wheel-drive Mercedes smaller than anything here right now. That leaves the A-Class, since we've already got the B-Class. Getting the next-gen A-Class here would help with CAFE numbers, and since it will be built in the new factory in Aguascalientes, Mexico it won't have far to travel to get here. We're told it won't be like the current car, however; Cannon said, "The A-Class will change from what you have seen and from what you are used to." We hope that's a good thing, because we really like the current car. Related Video:

2015 Chinese Grand Prix shines bright sun on the dark days of racing

Yes, we tuned into the Formula One Grand Prix in Shanghai China to see a race. But we all know we really tuned in to see if Ferrari, or any other team, could make it a competitive race with Mercedes-AMG Petronas. Based on qualifying, things didn't get off the best of starts: Lewis Hamilton made it four-out-of-four at the front, leading all three Free Practice sessions and then taking pole position in his Mercedes. Nico Rosberg is making the most of his time in the simulator, getting closer to Hamilton as the months go by. This time he lined up in second, just 0.042 in arrears. Ferrari did its best to temper expectations after Malaysia. Even though Sebastian Vettel qualified in third, almost a second behind Hamilton, the Scuderia's race pace is still considered a danger. Kimi Raikkonen's final hot lap went sour in Turn 3 and dropped the Finn to sixth place on the grid. In between the Ferraris, Williams is another team desperately working to maintain its advantage, and both of its drivers capitalized on Raikkonen's misfortune. Felipe Massa took fourth, Valtteri Bottas was in fifth. Daniel Ricciardo led the Infiniti Red Bull Racing charge in seventh, ahead of Romain Grosjean in the Lotus earning a spirits-lifting eighth. The two Saubers continue to show how good the Ferrari engine is, with Felipe Nasr taking ninth position and teammate Marcus Ericsson in tenth. Yet when the lights went out, so did the racing, for the most part. At the end of the first lap, because of some excellent moves by Raikkonen on both Williams' and a terrible start by Ricciardo that dropped him to seventeenth, the order was Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Raikkonen, Massa, Bottas, Grosjean, Nasr, Ericsson, and Pastor Maldonado in the Lotus rounding out the top ten. At the end of the race, the only positions that had changed were the final two: Ricciardo had a laps-long battle with Ericsson, passing, getting repassed, then passing again to take ninth for good, with Ericsson finishing tenth. Maldonado suffered the worst in a battle with Jenson Button in the McLaren, when Button misjudged the entry into Turn 1 for a pass and clouted the back of the Lotus. Button was able to finish but Maldonado had to retire. Yes, there were some decent moments in between, like Bottas getting by Massa at the start, then Raikkonen getting past Massa in the first few corners and the Finn's move on Bottas also letting Massa through.

Recharge Wrap-up: Honda FCV Concept comes to Detroit, Toyota seeks young green energy fellows

Honda will bring its FCV Concept to the 2015 North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January. The hydrogen-powered concept made its Japanese debut in November, and will now make its way to North America for the first time. The FCV concept improves upon the design of the FCX Clarity with a more striking appearance and roomier interior. Its smaller powertrain packaging means more space for people, and the FCV Concept seats five passengers. Honda also expects the next-generation fuel-cell car, which is scheduled to go on sale in Japan in March 2016, to cost less and have a range of over 300 miles. Read more in the press release below. The Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive has been awarded an environmental certificate from the TUV Sud technical inspection authority. The certificate is based not just on the vehicle's operation, but the entire lifecycle of the car, including production and recycling. The B-Class Electric Drive produces 24 percent less CO2 over its lifecycle than the Mercedes-Benz B180 when using the EU electricity mix, and 64 percent less when powered by hydroelectricity. Mercedes credits not just the use of electricity, but also the car's energy management system - such as its radar-based regenerative braking - for its carbon reductions. Read more in the press release below. Scania will test a wirelessly charged plug-in hybrid bus in Sweden. Beginning in June 2016, the bus will be put to daily use in Sodertalje. One of its stops will have a wireless charging station where the bus will recharge for six to seven minutes before continuing on its route again. The charger is located under the road surface and the bus positions itself above it to charge inductively. About $1.3 million will come from the Swedish Energy Agency to fund the test project, which could save up to 90 percent of fuel costs. If expanded to a fleet of 2,000 buses, it could save up to 13 million gallons of fuel each year. Read more at Green Car Congress, and in the press release below. Sandia National Laboratories and Linde are teaming up to expand hydrogen fueling infrastructure. The two groups have signed an agreement to research and develop new hydrogen stations, as well as ways to make fuel cell vehicles more desirable for consumers. They are looking at ways to incorporate hydrogen into existing fuel stations where possible, and make sure that it is able to be done safely.