Having only recently unveiled their SL 63 AMG, Mercedes-AMG are already trumping it with this new Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG.

It features an AMG 6.0-litre “biturbo” (twin-turbocharged) engine which develops a maximum output of 630 hp and a maximum torque of 1000 newton metres.

This results in what Mercedes describe as “exceptional performance, impressive power delivery and effortlessly superior dynamics.”

An all-aluminium bodyshell results in a drastic reduction in weight, adding to performance and achieving a 17% increase on fuel efficiency over its predecessor. This added efficiency is also partly achieved thanks to the AMG SPEEDSHIFT PLUS 7G-TRONIC transmission, the ECO start/stop-function, in-engine measures to optimise efficiency and alternator management.

Because people for some reason still believe that greener cars somehow sacrifice on performance, Mercedes will remind you that the maximum output of the AMG V12 6-litre biturbo engine has increased from 612 hp to 640 hp across models. So that’s more power with less emissions. The future, then. Right there.

What’s really enthralling though is the electronic vario-roof which allows for the SL 65 AMG to be transformed into a roadster or a coupé in less than 20 seconds. Or there’s the enticing MAGIC SKY CONTROL feature which allows for a unique panoramic vario-roof setting which can be switched to light or dark at the push of a button.

In fact, the selected list alone of equipment and appointments reads like a be-all and end-all of aspirational modern motoring technology. My attention, though, is drawn particularly to the high-end surround sound achieved with the help of a Bang & Olufsen BeoSound AMG system.

Apart from anything else, though, Mercedes believe their SL 65 AMG to be one of the world’s safest roadsters. This is because the rigid aluminium bodyshell forms a robust occupant compartment as well as precisely defined deformation zones at the front and rear. And, should the vehicle roll over, A-pillars made from a steel-aluminium mix and two roll-over bars work together for your protection.

So it’s light, fast, powerful and safe.

Again, the future right there.

The new Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG will arrive in the UK in Autumn, 2012 with pricing and specifications yet to be confirmed.

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With the budget on the horizon, all eyes will be on the Chancellor and petrol duty charges, but he will be no doubt looking to ‘get Britain back on track’ (© Every single Chancellor since the year dot) and showing that the Coalition’s policies are working.

Maybe he will point out that some recent announcements from car manufacturers with regards to UK Car sales seem to show that the medicine is working.

Firstly, Ford announced that they have increased its UK car sales and share in both January and February this year, enhancing their oft-quoted reputation as the UK market leader.

Mark Ovenden, Ford of Britain managing director, said:  “Ford’s car range has started 2012 with a terrific performance that extends our UK lead in total car sales, and provides a good indicator for March, when sales are boosted significantly by the registration plate change.

“Our best-ever range of vehicles will grow even further thanks to a series of new launches this year, flagged up by a glittering display on the Ford stand at the Geneva Motor Show. The list of upcoming models includes the new Ford B-MAX, the new Ford Kuga, the 1.0-litre EcoBoost Ford Focus, and the new Fiesta and Focus ST models.”

So what prompted this optimism and bragging rights from Ford?

The Ford Focus was February’s best UK seller with 6% of the market, and over Jan and Feb, the Fiesta No 1 for the year to date (10,723 sold so far); Ford Commercial vehicles were top of the tree in both LCV and MCV markets; and their overall car sales and share of UK car sales were up in comparison to the same period (13.1% vs 11.2%)

(Admittedly, overall UK commercial vehicle sales were down 16.6 per cent, in comparison to February 2011 but Ford held their share of it).

Then, Mercedes-Benz UK announced that, in February 2012, it maintained its record 4.8 per cent market share in February and year to date.

New car registrations showed an 11.0 per cent increase with a year-to-date figure of 9182 vehicles a rise of 17.2% against Jan/Feb 2011. The overall new car market was down 0.7%.

This success was split between private and fleet registrations, and the van division has also increased sales, both in the light and large markets.

Marcus Breitschwerdt, President and CEO Mercedes-Benz UK Ltd, explained: “Our fast start to 2012 continues throughout the range, and it’s great to see more private customers choosing to buy a new Mercedes-Benz. Medium van and heavy truck registrations are also showing significant growth, and success in the commercial vehicle sector means that business is once again moving in the right direction.”

And finally, Volvo Car UK announced that it is currently enjoying a great start to 2012 with increasing sales and new cars with world firsts ready to enter the marketplace.

In 2011, Volvo was the fastest growing luxury car brand and latest figures show that year-on-year, Volvo has increased its sales performance by 13.4%, with the Volvo XC60 one of its top selling models, followed by its siblings, the S60 and V60.

Volvo unveiled its all-new V40 at the Geneva Motor Show, a five-door, five-seat hatchback that will launch in July, with the world’s first pedestrian air-bag amongst the many new safety and technology features

So, maybe Mr Osborne will point at these figures as he justifies austerity measures and their hoped-for results.

One small point though.

The official figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show that total car sales last month were down 2.5 per cent to 61,868 units, compared with February 2011.

Maybe not then!

The Earl of March is a right sterling gentleman. It was he who founded the annual Festival of Speed (taking place this year 28 June – 1 July) and Goodwood Revival (14-16 September).

Being the top sterling brass that he is, he’s only gone and announced some of the news highlights for this season’s Goodwood events.

Good man!

The theme of the 2012 Festival of Speed is “Young Guns – Born to Win”. In keeping with this theme is the inaugural Goodwood appearance of double F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel. He’ll appear along with the Red Bull Racing team and his team mate, Mark Webber. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg of the seven current Formula One teams who’ll be attending and competing at the festival.

One of Britain’s most iconic sports car brands – Lotus – will be honoured in true Festival of Speed fashion, as the company’s past, present and future is celebrated with the main Central Feature “installation” outside Goodwood House. In addition, at least 50 significant Lotus race and road cars will be in action and on display during the festival weekend.

Finally, the 2012 Festival of Speed will see expansions and enhancements to the GAS (Goodwood Action Sports) arena, alongside a relocation for the Goodwood Aviation Exhibition within the Festival Parkland and the largest collection of two-stroke competition motorcycles ever assembled at the event.

Not too shabby.

Meanwhile, at the nostalgic 2012 Goodwood Revival, his Lordship promises an at-speed demonstration of the Silver Arrows Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union competition cars some 75 years after their unforgettable race at Donington.

The Ferrari 250 GTO will celebrate its fiftieth birthday with a daily parade of at least half the total GTO production.

Tributes will be paid daily to American racer Dan Gurney 50 years after taking his first Grand Prix victory, whilst two very special races will take place: The Nine Hours night race (60 years after this first Goodwood race in the dark), plus a brand new Goodwood Competition – the Settrington Cup! This will give young drivers a chance to prove their worth in Austin J40 pedal cars.

It’s all sounding good, I think you’ll agree. But, of course, there’ll be many more announcements in the coming months.

Those dates again: 28 June – 1 July for the Festival of Speed; 14 – 16 September for the Goodwood Revival.

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The Goodwood Festival of Speed (June 28-July 1) is the highlight of many a petrolhead’s year, and the excitement is kindling as news of the line-up emerges.

Mercedes-Benz have announced their plans for the festival, but aren’t revealing all of their cards. They’re promising to “spring a couple of surprises for the 150,000 visitors expected”.

Says their CEO, Marcus Breitschwerdt: “There is so much to look forward to at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. We celebrate 60 years of our SL-Class with the latest model arriving in the UK just in time for the Summer. There will also be plenty of new delights to see, in what is a very busy year for Mercedes-Benz in the UK.”

“Young Guns – Born to Win” is the theme for this year’s festival. Mercedes-Benz have taken this and run with it, drawing from their illustrious history of victories in races the world over.

This rich motorsport heritage will be evident in the four historic racing cars chosen to take on the famous Goodwood Hillclimb. Mercedes-Benz Classic is celebrating 60 years of the legendary W194 300 SL, which was a highly successful competition car two years before the ‘Gullwing’ road-going model appeared, and 75 years of the 1937 W125 Tripoli Grand Prix car, which went on to further successes that season.

One of the Mercedes-Benz ‘fin-tail’ saloons from the early 1960s, the W111 220 SE of 1963, will also tackle the course. The competition quartet is completed by the 1997 CLK-GTR, devised for FIA GT racing.

Behind the wheel will be such notable names as Klaus ‘King’ Ludwig, a triple winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours as well as multiple championships in Germany; Jochen Mass, a vastly experienced Formula 1 driver and 1989 Le Mans winner with Sauber-Mercedes; Bernd Schneider, the 1997 FIA GT champion and a master in German sports car racing; and Paul Stewart, a celebrated Formula 3 driver before going on to form his own Grand Prix team with father Sir Jackie Stewart.

Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz will be showcasing their future through a display of exciting new models before their UK launch, alongside a selection of their latest models already on sale today.

These will include a selection of AMG coupes and convertibles, the new ML-Class Sport and the C 63 AMG Coupe.

The “surprises”, though, would not be surprises if they told us about them now. You’ll just have to wait.

But, say Mercedes, “we can guarantee they are well worth waiting for”.

OK!

Mercedes-Benz and Formula 1 – a match made in heaven.

On the one hand there’s the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team roughing it out on the grid; whilst on the other hand the ripping engines beneath the hoods of the Vodafone McLaren mercedes and Force India.

Now that glorious relationship has attained the status of “holy trinity”, as Mercedes-Benz World has proclaimed itself to be “the ultimate location and venue for everyone to watch the action from the 2012 Formula 1 season”.

Yes, Mercedes-Benz World at Brooklands in Surrey will be screening qualifying and race action from the world-over. The idea is that you can experience the thrill-a-minute action beyond that which is shown on TV.

Indeed, perhaps you already have access to all the right channels on your TV. Perhaps you even forked out on an expensive package just so you could see everything on an “as and when” basis.

Well, Mercedes-Benz will have you know that you’ve just about wasted your money; for they’re not describing their venue as “the ultimate location” for nothing. No – they’ll have you know that they’ve a winning formula for “when it comes to surrounding yourself in the high octane atmosphere of the race”.

For the inspiring state-of-the-art venue is at Brooklands, the home of the world’s first ever purpose built race track. The whole site has motor racing running through its veins and is complemented by the Brooklands Museum where cars from the early days that fuelled the way to motor racing as we know it today can be seen.

Here you can see a line-up of cars on display – all keeping in the spirit of the occasion. At the heart of this exhibition will be the View Suspended II display, equipped with the latest 2012 livery from Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team.

This shows 3200 precision engineered components from a modern day Formula 1™ car meticulously arranged by Dutch artist Paul Veroude. The result is a striking monument to the advanced-technology of Formula 1™ that, like a freezeframed explosion, dramatically deconstructs the racing chassis to reveal the cars form.

Surrounding this will be a number of cars on display representing the various teams battling for top-spot throughout the season. Seeing as you’ll be on their turf, it would be good manners to pay particular attention to the 2010 season Mercedes GP Petronas car that was driven by Nico Rosberg and Michael Shumacher. Beside this will be the 2009 Force India driven by Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella, the 2007 Vodafone McLaren Mercedes car driven by Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, and Mika Hakkinen’s 1999 championship winning Team McLaren Mercedes car.

And much besides! The tracks will be hosting thrilling AMG passenger rides and driving experience (at a small additional cost) whilst a display from the Silver Arrows Display Team will see four professional drivers in AMG cars perform enthralling synchronised manoeuvres with impeccable control. You’ll even be able to win a place in the passenger seat on the day!

Says Andrew Mallery of Mercedes-Benz Cars: “With our own track action and sensational Formula 1™ exhibits, we will be bringing the Grand Prix to life. If you can’t be at the race, be here at Mercedes-Benz World.”

For the second year running, Surrey’s Mercedes-Benz World will support a local Hospice through sponsoring their annual ball.

The Sam Beare Hospice Ball is to take place on May 26th and is to be hosted at the illustrious Mercedes-Benz World venue.

Says Andrew Malley of Mercedes-Benz: “We are proud to be supporting the Sam Beare Hospice Ball again this year. We want to raise as much money as possible for such a valuable charity in our community.

“By donating a first class event at Mercedes-Benz World, all the money raised from the ticket price of the Ball tickets will go straight to the hospice and help continue the great work they do for those that need it. Last year we worked together with the Hospice to raise over £43,000 at the event… we hope to beat that this year.”

And we hope you succeed!

The Ball itself sounds like “a blast”. It’s a black tie event which includes a champagne reception, a three course meal, a charity auction, a “luxury tombola” and dancing!

Entertainment will come in the marvellous form of singing sensation Becky Taylor. No stranger to grand occasions, Ms. Taylor comes fresh from performing to 80,000 people at the Six Nations rugby match between England and Wales at Twickenham.

And now, the really exciting part: Prog wizars Rick Wakeman is set to perform, whilst comedian Graham Jolley will read minds and blow minds.

Says Hospice Patron Max Clifford: “Everyone that came last year had a great evening. I want to thank Mercedes-Benz World for their generosity and great food. It’s a wonderful way to raise vital funds for a very worthy cause.”

And we wish to echo those sentiments and really do wish we were going.

If you’ve always fancied yourself behind the wheel of a brand new Mercedes-Benz but worry about the cost, you’ll love our latest stock offer on the Mercedes A Class.

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Several weeks ago I wrote an article about iPhone controlled vehicles. The program was developed by a handful of individuals and was more of an exploitative hack than an official Apple release. Now it appears that Mercedes-Benz has teamed up with computer giant to recreate this program on a much larger scale, allowing drivers to control their vehicles from their fingertips.

Earlier last week Mercedes revealed that it would be integrating the system into its A-class vehicles.  Already having revealed the interior shots of the vehicle, the car will be pairing the technology using the COMAND infotainment interface. On the other end, drivers will have a specially designed Drive Kit Plus app that will allow them to access the car whenever they desire.

Not stopping with the iPhone, the car company is also looking to integrate Twitter, Aupeo Internet radio, and obviously Facebook. Furthermore, the car will have Siri’s voice-activated support that will allow the driver to access emails or their music collection simply by uttering a few words. This pairing hopes to integrate the best of Apple as well as other technological companies in order to allow the driver of the 21^st century complete control of their vast contents.

Reporters at Gizmodo have noted that this technology will be combined with Garmain’s navigation software which will be armed with POI searches as well as 3D map displays. It will also come with DKP app that will have a rather unique ‘Car finder’ feature that will allow the driver to quickly locate their car in a variety of settings.

While this integration looks quite interesting on the surface, it’s actually a rather important step for Apple since it’s the first ‘off the leash’ release offered by the company. Apple has always been careful not to open up to potential influences, ultimately allowing the company to have full control of their products. Dictatorial in nature, it’s very effective and has accounted for its skyrocketing success.

Revealed ahead of its official debut in Geneva this March, the car does look like it will impress some tech enthusiasts. As we march towards greater integration vehicles of these nature will certainly become the norm. We live in a very exciting time, one that sees the transformation of the driver on the most basic of levels.

75 years after their first ever appearance in the UK, the legendary ‘Silver Arrows’ will be staging a demonstration at the 2012 Goodwood Revival on 14-16 September.

Just how exciting is that news!

The chance to see the famous Silver Arrows Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union Grand Prix cars will make the 2012 Revival a must-attend event for all motor sport enthusiasts, let alone the chance to see them once again actually being driven on British soil at a British Motor Circuit for the first time in 75 years.

This has the possibility of being the most spectacular historic vehicle demonstration of all time.

The iconic Mercedes-Benz W25, W125, W154 and W165, plus examples of the Auto Union Type C and Type D, will be in action at top race-speeds, with well-known top-level racing drivers behind the wheels of these awesome and significant cars; all alongside many of the cars that competed against – but were totally out-classed by – the dominant Mercedes-Benz and Auto Unions in the late 1930s.

Expect to see examples of ERA, Maserati, Riley, Bugatti and MG on the legendary Goodwood track, alongside the Silver Arrows.

But why is this such a big event, and why are motoring enthusiasts so excited?

Quite simply, because of the history of the Silver Arrows

Back in 1934, way before our time young whippersnappers, the introduction of the 750kg led to the arrival on the Grand Prix scene of two of the most evocative names in motor sport history: Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union, backed by German money. Built with little regard for cost, their cars were light years ahead of the opposition, and dominated Grand Prix racing from 1934 until the outbreak of war in 1939.

Normally, German racing cars were white, but these were bare metal (allegedly to keep them below the 750kg weight) and were practically unbeatable. They gained the nickname of ‘Silberpfeil’ (Silver Arrows in German)’ creating a legend that endures to this day.

The cars first raced in the UK in 1937 with power outputs of 600bhp (To put this into perspective, this power wasn’t to be reached again until the 1980’s turbo power era), British crowds were speechless. They were used to Rileys, MGs and ERAs with half the power, and were also astonished by the daredevil antics of the drivers.

With the full support of Mercedes-Benz and Audi, the 2012 Goodwood Revival will recreate the spirit of that momentous day in 1937, with a race-speed demonstration of as many as ten of these fabulous machines. Guided by their world famous drivers, the Silver Arrows will stage a carefully choreographed ‘race’, alongside examples of the British and Continental ‘cannon fodder’ that raced against them in period – providing all the spectacle of a real race, but without risk to these priceless machines.

This will be the first time that so many of the Silver Arrows will have been driven together at full racing speed since the Yugoslav Grand Prix, on 3 September 1939 – the day after WWII broke out. As such, it will be a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The 2012 Goodwood Revival is gearing up to be THE event on this year’s calendar, with the finest collection of significant and authentic racing AC Cobras ever assembled in the UK also racing as well as a plethora of as-yet unannounced spectaculars gathering at on 14-16 September 2012.