Okay, it can’t quite fly but after seeing this video one might be tempted to believe anything!. The new Mercedes SLS AMG just proved something I had read and wondered about for years, some cars can be driven upside-down. This idea has been floating around for a long time and people have said a lot of cars have the capability, a Koenigsegg, a Formula-One car, a Zonda, but Mercedes has taken it one step further and actually done it (okay, the TopGear test with the Twingo doesn’t count as if you watch closely one wheel does not touch the roof at all!). The brave (and rather mad) and germane looking driver takes the SLS for a spin in the roof of a tunnel while a bunch of scientist-looking men do some math in the god awesome video. Any SLS video is worth a look (or two) but one in which you can look up its skirt!…stop mooning and check it out.

Recently Mercedes has been under steady firing from its home rival BMW. In India Mercs have been the car of the riches from the 90s and has been dominating sales in this segment for more than a decade. Then came the BMW which inched closer and closer to Merc and finaly sold more than the Merc during december 2009.

Ending 2009 in a bitter loss to Bimmer, Merc is trying to bounch back right up with the Introduction of its 7-seater SUV GL-Class. This might fare good for Merc as there is no shortage in demand for big SUVs in India and Merc has been laggin behind in this particular segment. A 7-seater GL would be great for Merc than the 5-seater M-class ever was. Priced at 67lakh rupees Ex-showroom Delhi it is a bit costlier than Audi’s Q7 but is also more. Read about it more from the Brochure and official Press Release.

Most of us are familiar with the S-class sedan, it is widely recognize as the technological peak into the future of car luxury & safety. S-class has been the ultimate luxury saloon in India except for the rollers and bentles that is, The new S-Class is priced at 95lakh rupees ex-showroom delhi and it would be the costliest car ever to be produced in India.

The new S is cramped up with technology which pamper the occupants in ways we can only imagine. At any given time 70 parameters are monitored and various actuators are effected based on the variable, in plain english, the seats hug you in corners, if the driver feels drowsy the car wakes him up and it does a lot more things based on the conditions. Click through to read about the cars specification and features in the press release and the brochure.

Things are not quite all hunky-dory at Mercedes Benz India. BMW and Audi are fast catching up in terms of sales and brand value. And now Mercedes has come up with a solution…a CNG variant of the new E-Class. Yes, you heard it right, a CNG E-Class to compete with the Auto-Rikshwas in the streets of New Delhi. The very idea of lower fuel consumption (admittedly an impressive 18 km a kg) appealing to the customer who has to shell out…wait for it, more than 90 Lakh rupees for the car is appalling. The almost double the normal price comes from the fact that Mercedes has to import the cars after paying a 104% tax. In fact, even if Mercedes starts producing them India and prices them around the normal 45 Lakhs, I do not see many people opting for this variant.

Also, the ‘green-celebrity’ thing that worked so well for the Toyota Prius in the US will probably not help Mercedes as green awareness is pretty low in India and all people care about is the 3 – pointed star in the front, not the smoke coming out of the back. The new E-Class has got the caliber to fight of the 5 series and A6 on its own and does not need such gimmicks to help push sales. Now if only, Mercedes could shake off the old-man’s car image and appeal to a broader section of the demographic like BMW, it may well stop the rut.

Today Mercedes-Benz launched its new E-Class in Delhi. this W212 E-Class is on the best E-class designs ever. The car is priced at Rs at 46,90,000. The car comes with a 3.5L V6 with a power output of 292hp and a torque limit of 355Nm.

The launch had the presence of Chief Executive Officer of Mercedes Benz India Mr. Wilfried G. Aulbur, who said during the ceremony “The all-new E-Class is the perfect embodiment of the brand’s core values rooted in timeless design, craftsmanship and innovation. This outstanding product- the ninth generation E-Class displays outstanding driving dynamics, and represents our cumulative experience garnered over 123 years of automotive leadership. The overriding theme behind the E-Class has been to create a vehicle that has a perceptive, sophisticated, intelligent and intuitive persona- much like the owners of this distinctive automobile.”

Click through to read the new features of the E-Class

BRABUS E V12

Call it the Dark Knight or the Darth Vader or the Knight Rider none would do justice to the amount of menace that has be resurrected out of the New E-class. I don’t think there is any human who can pull this off. It’s more than a car, its pure evil with 800 dark horses prancing around frantically without a tamer.

E-Class estate
A wagon version of the new E-class which is going to be launched on the 23rd of this month in India.

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