Over here in America, there’s no doubt that we’d find this commercial funny because of the Grim Reaper’s foiled attempt in taking the life of the Mercedes driver after the latter was able to stop his E-Class seconds before it would have crashed into an on-going road construction. Funny stuff, right?
Apparently, the folks in Germany - and those familiar with the situation within the auto industry - find this commercial funny for a different reason. Turns out that Mercedes may have put the man playing the role of the Grim Reaper in the commercial because of his uncanny resemblance to one Ferdinand Piech. If you don’t know who he is, he’s the chairman of the supervisory board over at Volkswagen AG. So there really is more to this commercial than meet’s the reaper’s scythe.
If you don’t know the back-story behind Piech and Mercedes, it all stemmed from a comment the former made about how Volkswagen is gearing up in an effort to go toe-to-toe with Mercedes some time in the future. This, if we can assume, could be Mercedes throwing the first volley at Volkswagen, showing that they’re not afraid of the big German auto conglomerate, even if they show up on the passenger seat of their E-Class with a scythe in hand.
It’s not all the time when you can get two Formula One legends in one car and enjoy a nice pleasant drive behind the wheel of a Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet. Fortunately for Mercedes,they had a couple of legends at their disposal - F1 royalties Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher - and got them to participate in this enjoyable and revealing - that is, if you can handle the dubbed English - joy ride.
The pair hopped into the new Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet and, with Lauda behind the wheel and Schumi serving as co-pilot, embarked on a ride along the German Autobahn, all the while talking about a number of things including flapping dog ears, Schumi’s retirement and return to Formula One, and Red Bull’s current dominance this season.
Oh, and as you can expect, having these two guys in one car will definitely attract attention and you’ll notice a number of people craning their necks out of their vehicles to take a good photo of the duo with some even honking their horns to catch their attention, to which the Schumi politely acknowledged more than a few times.
Vorsteiner is usually known for its tuning packages for BMW models, but today the tuner announced the V6E package based on the 2010 Mercedes E63 AMG sports sedan. Vorsteiner plainly says this package illustrates the "duality of the machine" with its "sophistication and performance".
The V6E package includes a carbon fiber front lip spoiler, new side sills, a carbon fiber rear air diffuser, and a carbon fiber deck lid add-on spoiler. The package is finished off with V-308 Sport Concave 3-piece forged wheels in a fine textured black finish. This package adds a distinct masculinity with a hint of aggression to the front end of the car.
The engine will remain unchanged with a 6.2-liter V8 that delivers a total of 518bhp and 465lb-ft of torque mated to a 7-speed MCT dual-clutch transmission. This one unchanged feature is what some might decide is the cause of choosing the Mercedes E63 AMG by Vath as opposed to the package by Vorsteiner. Vath chose to boost the engine to deliver an extra 113hp and 44lb.-ft. of torque. Usually, we would opt for the extra ponies, hands down, but in this case we might make an exception. The Vorsteiner V6E package makes the Mercedes E63 AMG just look that much better.
Hit the jump for a video on the new Vorsteiner V6E package for the 2010 Mercedes E63 AMG.
Usually when we do reports on cars that have received the latest tuning packages, we get to talk about models that have just been released and have been upgraded for the sake of originality and excessive PR. It’s not every day that we do a piece on a tuning package for a car that was debuted in 2002 with a second generation debuting in 2006. Apparently, today will be that day because we have heard of a tuning package for the Mercedes-Benz E-Class W211.
Prior Design has come up with a tuning package that will update the W211 with something other than the usual wheel/tire-combinations and chassis lowering options. The new tuning package from Prior Design will offer a specially developed chassis set consisting of a buffer with plastics grille, fog lamps, and lateral ventilation openings at the front. Side skirts, a new diffuser-look bumper, tailgate, and roof edge spoilers also come with the package designed to give the vehicle a sportier look. All car parts are made with Duraflex, but can be switched out for carbon at the customer’s request. A stainless-steel 4-pipe sports exhaust is also added to this “still-modern” W211.
Albeit a little odd, we guess there is something to say for the Mercedes-Bens E-Class W211 if tuning companies are still interesting in developing tuning packages for them. That or this tuning company has a little too much time on their hands.
The Mercedes E-Class has been quite popular in China recently with 122,000 sold in 2008 and an expected 200,000 sold in 2010 with close to 90% being the long version. With this type of popularity, it’s no wonder that Mercedes would boost the E-Class’ length and wheelbase by 140 millimeters to further entice the Chinese market and catapult sales even more. Today, Mercedes unveiled the E-Class L (Lembodies) at the Beijing Auto Show. The new version will be produced locally at Beijing BenzAutomotive Co.,Ltd (BBAC) with a local share in value terms of more than 40%.
Along with the jump in length, the new E-Class L will benefit from a choice of two refined petrol engines and three trim levels: E260 CGI Elegance, E260 CGI Avantgarde, and E300 Avantgarde. All models will be offered with automatic transmissions.
Standard options will include: bi-xenon headlamps, adaptive ILS (Intelligent Light System), electric sliding sunroof, automatic air conditioning, and COMAND DVD system. The E 260 CGI AVANTGARDE version will add a THERMATIC air conditioning system, heated rear seats, and residual heat system while the E 300 Avantgarde goes a step further to include a Rear Seat Entertainment System (two large 20.3 cm screens in the backs of the front seat head restraints), KEYLESS-GO electronic drive authorization system, and remote boot closing.
