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Mercedes AMG and Cigarette Racing debut 2,220-HP electric motor boat

Take the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG E-Cell, stretch it and take off the wheels then make it float and you've basically got the just-unveiled Cigarette AMG Electric Drive Concept. Powered by an all-electric powertrain that offers 2,200 horsepower and 2,213 pound-feet of torque (and uses "numerous components" taken from the not-quite-as-yellow SLS AMG Coupé Electric Drive), the sleek concept is being called the "world's most powerful electric drive powerboat." What that means is a top speed of over 100 miles per hour from four 60-kWh lithium-ion batteries and two banks of six liquid-cooled, permanent-magnet synchronous electric motors. And the 240 kWh of total energy should provide plenty of juice out on the water.
Launched (but not literally) at the Miami International Boat Show today, the Cigarette AMG Electric Drive Concept is the result of a partnership between Mercedes-AMG and Cigarette Racing. The boat is 38 feet long (much longer than the 15-foot SLS) and is plastered with AMG branding on the sides and top of the bow above the matte chrome yellow paint (officially called AMG Electricbeam mango). Two 220-kW chargers can refill the batteries, dockside, in about seven hours.
The idea of a powerful electric boat is nothing new (Henrik Fisker talked about a plug-in hybrid watercraft late last year), but this is the first time we've seen Mercedes put its EV technology on the water. Anyone who's afraid of driving an EV in the rain should take note. Check out the complete press release below.

Trump calls Germans 'very bad,' vows to stop their car sales in US

TAORMINA, Italy -Talks between President Trump and other leaders of the world's rich nations at the G7 summit on Friday were expected to be "robust" and "challenging" after he had lambasted NATO allies and condemned Germans as "very bad" for their trade policies. Trump's confrontational remarks in Brussels, on the eve of the two-day summit in the Mediterranean resort town of Taormina, cast a pall over a meeting at which America's partners had hoped to coax him into softening his stances on trade and climate change. According to German media reports, Trump condemned Germany as "very bad" for its trade policies in a meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, signaling he might take steps to limit sales of German cars in the United States. "The Germans are bad, very bad," he reportedly told Juncker. "Look at the millions of cars that they're selling in the USA. Horrible. We're gonna stop that." White House economic adviser Gary Cohn on Friday confirmed the reports. "He said they're very bad on trade, but he doesn't have a problem with Germany." Cohn said Trump had pointed out during the meeting that his father had German roots in order to underscore the message that he had nothing against the German people. Trump's spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump had "tremendous respect" for Germany and had only complained about unfair trade practices in the meeting. Juncker called the reports in Spiegel Online and Sueddeutsche Zeitung exaggerated. The reports translated "bad" with the German word "boese," which can also mean "evil," leading to confusion when English-language media translated the German reports back into English. "The record has to be set straight," Juncker said, noting that the translation issue had exaggerated the seriousness of what Trump had said. "It's not true that the president took an aggressive approach when it came to the German trade surplus." "He said, like others have, that (the United States) has a problem with the German surplus. So he was not aggressive at all," Juncker added. In January, Trump threatened to slap a 35 percent tax on German auto imports. "If you want to build cars in the world, then I wish you all the best. You can build cars for the United States, but for every car that comes to the USA, you will pay 35 percent tax," he said. "I would tell BMW that if you are building a factory in Mexico and plan to sell cars to the USA, without a 35 percent tax, then you can forget that." Last year, the U.S.

Daimler and Volvo could jointly develop internal combustion engines

BERLIN — Luxury German carmaker Daimler and Volvo, owned by China's Geely, are considering cooperating to cut the costs of developing combustion engines, a magazine reported on Sunday, citing unnamed company sources. The Automobilwoche weekly cited a Volvo manager as saying there were initial talks with Daimler, but no concrete plans, while a company spokesman said it was too early to talk about firm projects, although it was not excluding anybody. A Daimler spokesman said the company's cooperation with Geely, which owns a 10% stake in the German carmaker, was developing in a positive way, but declined to comment further. Global tariffs, accelerated by a trade war between China and the United States, as well as higher investment requirements for electric and autonomous vehicles, are forcing carmakers to seek new ways to cut and share costs. In October, Volvo said it would merge its engine development and manufacturing assets with those of Geely, creating a division to supply in-house brands and also potentially others with next-generation combustion and hybrid engines. Automobilwoche said this new division would start operating by the end of March, which could be a possible starting point for cooperation with Daimler, while a further step could be a partnership to develop electric power trains. Geely and Daimler have said they plan to build the next generation of Smart electric cars in China through a joint venture and the two companies are also cooperating on a premium ride-hailing service in China. Geely bought Volvo Cars in 2010 from Ford, allowing the Swedish brand to operate on an arms-length basis. But in recent years, it has deepened cooperation between the two brands. Volvo already supplies engines to some Geely-branded vehicles, sharing technology through Geely's Lynk brand. Both companies share and develop common vehicle platforms. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.