Luxury Cars | Ultra Luxury Cars

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

B-Class AMG not exactly a B-Class AMG?

Apparently the B-Class AMG we talked about right below this story isn’t exactly going to be a B-Class AMG, according to a new story by Auto Express. What AMG will actually be doing is developing a compact “CLS lite” about 4,500mm long based on the next generation B-Class chassis. That’s just slightly shorter than an E90 BMW 3-Series.

The car is known internally in AMG as the C117 EVO and is expected to be priced around £30,000, much cheaper than the £50,000 C63 AMG. Although the earlier Automotive News report says the car is likely to have a high performance four cylinder engine, Auto Express reports that the car will be a “32″ AMG car, powered by a 3.2 liter Comprex pressure wave supercharged V6.

Renault and Daimler close to a stake swap tie-up?

Renault Fluence

Word is that Daimler AG and Renault are very close to a German-French ‘alliance’ that includes a “symbolic” equity swap of 3%. Daimler AG would hold 3% of Renault and Renault will be taking up 3% of Daimler AG. The official word from the two companies confirm that they are in talks for some kind of collaboration, but declined to confirm that it would include an equity stake swap.

Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn said at the Geneva Motorshow earlier this year that the alliance could afford to buy stake in a third partner if needed. He did not mention who they are looking at specifically, instead just saying that the alliance was “talking to many people in the industry.” The Renault-Nissan alliance has been around for 11 years and it seems to be working for them well. Daimler’s tie-ups haven’t been particularly successful, they ‘divorced’ Chrysler not too long ago.

Renault Wind – future smart roadster?

The partnership between Daimler and Renault will most probably revolve around sharing the development costs of compact front wheel drive platforms and engines. Mercedes-Benz needs to spread the development cost of its compact front wheel drive A-Class and B-Class vehicles as well as Smart cars. It was previously in talks with rivals BMW for the same but that collaboration went down the drain as both parties ended up feeling it was necessary to have competitive differentiation in that segment that would not be possible if they shared platforms and engines.

BMW also has a French partner for its front wheel drive MINI vehicles – their transversely-installed Prince engines are shared with PSA Peugeot Citroen. They couldn’t find a platform partner so they’re instead going to share the next generation MINI front wheel drive platform with compact BMWs instead, leading to the shocking announcement last week that there would be front wheel drive compact BMWs in the pipeline.

Nissan Patrol-based Infiniti QX56 leaked ahead of New York

Here are some leaked low-res images of the 2011 Infiniti QX56, which will make its debut at the New York Auto Show. The largest of Infiniti’s 4X4s is meant to be a rival to the Lexus LX, and is based on Nissan’s new Patrol that was unveiled in the Middle East last month.

The latest Patrol is powered by a 5.6-litre direct-injected V8 with 400 bhp and 550 Nm paired to a seven-speed automatic transmission, and it’s most likely that the QX56 will sport the same drivetrain. The Infiniti should also come with the Patrol’s Hydraulic Body Motion Control System, All Mode 4X4 system with four selectable presets, Hill Start Assist and Hill Descent Control. While the Patrol name conjures up images of UN peacekeeping forces in hostile terrain, the latest version is positioned upmarket – kit includes a new multi-screen DVD entertainment system and “curtain vents”.

Here, the designers fused Infiniti-style headlights, rear lights and the wavy rear window line into a big, boxy SUV. And while all these cues work well on the marque’s smaller “coupe style” crossovers, we think that this is one of the most awkward looking 4X4s on sale. The current QX isn’t pretty, but at least it looks consistent.

Ford Focus RS

A limited edition 500 unit run of the Focus RS called the Focus RS500 will be unveiled to the public for the first time at the 2010 Leipzig Motor Show in Germany on April 9 next month. Each car will have its own serial number and only 101 of them will be available in UK, with the rest scattered around the car’s other markets.

No, the RS500 name doesn’t mean the car makes 500 horsepower, but as you can already guess from the first paragraph it denotes the production run. The 350 PS that the Focus RS500 makes is about 45 PS higher than what the normal Focus RS produces. This is accompanied by 460Nm of torque between 2,500rpm to 4,500rpm, which is up from the 440Nm of the normal Focus RS.

Ford Focus RS500

The engine is the same 2.5 liter Duratec RS but has had some massaging including a larger air-to-air intercooler to deliver a cooler, denser charge; a larger air filter box for increased airflow; larger diameter exhaust downpipe; and an uprated fuel pump, along with an updated software calibration to optimise the performance of the revised engine. 0 to 100km/h takes 5.6 seconds.

“The engine’s improved breathing has allowed us to increase power without having to raise turbo boost pressure significantly. This has made it possible to enhance peak performance while maintaining the excellent driveability, fuel consumption and emissions of the standard Focus RS,” said Gunnar Hermann, Ford’s global C-car vehicle line director. The modifications from the engine have been done by a team of engineers from Ford TeamRS in partnership with Revolve Technologies, the automotive engineering firm which develops Ford approved performance upgrades through its Mountune brand.

Ford Focus RS500

And of course as you can see from the photos, the RS500 has a special matte black finish combined with matching metallic black alloy wheels, glossy black finish on the trapezoidal lower front grille and splitter, twin-blade rear spoiler and the rear venture. But the thing is, the matte black is NOT paint.

The RS500 cars are painted in a standard Panther Black metallic colour, before being shipped to a dedicated 3M facility near Frankfurt, Germany, where a special foil film will be applied to the bodywork to create the matt black effect. In the event of damage to the bodywork, Ford dealers will be fully supported by a Europe-wide network of 3M agents who can replace the film on the affected panels. The film is designed to be resistant to superficial marks and scratches.