Mercedes Maybach Vision 6

Peeble Beach, California, the place where cars go to beauty pageant, Cars constructors come usually with the best they have. Mercedes Benz prepared this year something straight from the future. It is dubbed : The Mercedes Maybach Vision 6. It is 6 meters long, and it looks like a revival of the Mercedes Benz 540k and has some of the lines of the Exelero. Surprise to all, this car is fully electric.

On the exterior, the new Mercedes Maybach has an intelligent design, aerodynamic extended lines. It was fitted with a long bonnet, has a low roof and an greenhouse positioned towards the rear. Certainly, Mercedes made this luxury class coupé, as a homage to the era of the classic coupés. A both retro and futuristic design. The use of Leds for the thin headlights, long tail backlights, the body, the interior is all futuristic, but, when you look at it, the first thing that strikes your eyes is the iconic Mercedes Maybach vertical grille, all in chrome, and features 25 individual vertical struts. And of course, you cannot talk about Mercedes’ past without gullwings doors, which were fitted to this Maybach. The car sits on red, light 24 inch wheels, with chrome touches.

Power wise, a 80kWh lithium-ion battery mounted within a shallow floor transfers power to four compact magnet synchronous electric, mounted two on the front for the front wheels, and two on the rear for the rear wheels, and they all produce a striking 750 bhp, which is 10 bhp more than the SLS Electric Drive. Acceleration is announced to be under 4 seconds, and top speed is electronically limited to 250 kph. The range is astonishingly close to 500 Kms according the NEDC (New European Driving cycle) standards and 320 kph according the EPA.

In the inside, you can expect of course classy, luxurious, futuristic design. The seating is offered in 2+2. The front windscreen is a large display that shows the driving data, geographical information and more, and is all controlled by the driver’s gestures. The dashboard curves from the door trim into seat landscape. In the middle of the car, what would be hand-rests for the front passenger, is a central tunnel that shows the power flow between electrical motors.

The Mercedes Maybach Vision 6 is still under development in the R&D center in Stuttgart, it would rival the Tesla, and more electric cars that are coming in the range of sport cars. There is no price tag yet, but, what is sure is, the Vision 6 is a huge step towards Mercedes Benz future.

 

BMW M4 GTS Concept

BMW haven’t been quite active when it comes to beauty concours, except for the 3.0 CSL homage. In this year’s Peeble Beach Concours d’Élégance, BMW came with two models, a race version of the 3.0 CSL Homage, and a GTS Concept of the M4 model. It is a concept per say, there is an actual prototype for it, but many features will come later with the production model.

The M4 GTS Concept, is a more track focused version of the M4, launched a year ago. It features the same water injection system introduced in the M4 MotoGP Safety car. It has a lightweight carbon-fiber rear wing, a manually adjustable front splitter, and larger front air intake.

“While the BMW M4 Coupe embodies the ideal combination of motor sport genes and unrestricted everyday usability, the BMW Concept M4 GTS previews an emotionally powerful and exclusive special model conceived with an eye for trailblazing technology and a keen focus on the race track,”
“Despite its outstanding track ability, it is still fully road-legal. This is racing technology for the road in the truest sense.”Frank van Meel, BMW M president.

Despite being a race model, it is still road-legal. And because it is exceptional, the GTS owners will be remarkable through grey body paint and orange wheels. There is no date for production yet, and once more, competition amongst German constructors is fierce.

Aston Martin Vanquish Volante by Q

Aston Martin, future AMG partner, will be present in the Peeble Beach Concours d’Élégance as well, next to its British rivals, Land Rover, and Jaguar, announcing four new toys with and major technical upgrades : The Aston Martin Vanquish, Vanquish Volante, Rapide S, and DB9 Volante, we will be more interested in the Vanquish Volante

All the four cars had the courteous improvement from Aston Martin’s in house tuner, Q, not much will be noticed on the design, either in the inside or the outside of the car, only new colors will be brought to scene, but, the cars received mechanical improvement. The most noticeable one is the new 8-speed automatic transmission. Brought by ZF, the new Techtronic III transmission replaces the old, noncompetitive 6-speed auto. Another improvement, is the new transaxle mounting of the gearbox. Q reduced also exhaust gas back pressure, giving the Vanquish Volante 3 more bhp, to total 568 bhp. An impressive 0.5 of a second will be gained in the 0 to 100 km/h time, reducing it to 3.8 seconds, thus, it becomes the fastest accelerating Aston Martin car.

The car will be fitted with the same 6.0L V12 engine, but with a new Bosh management system, more accurate fueling, it produces now 630 Nm of torque. The improvement on the gearbox, especially in the final gear ratio, can make the car top 200 mph (320 kph).

Economy wise, the new transmission improvements, increase fuel economy, reduce CO2 emissions. combined fuel consumption is 31 mpg and CO2 emission decreased from 335g/km in the old Vanquish to 298g/km

The car will have new suspension, with stronger tare, uprated Bilstein dumpers : 15% in the front and 35% for the rear, stiffer anti-roll bars and upper-wishbone bushes at the rear. Bigger new front brakes will be mounted too. The assisted driving system will be revised, si will be the Dynamic stability control, to improve driving performance on the road.

 

Sources : Larevueautomobile.com ; blogautomobile.fr ; leblogauto.com ; telegraph.co.uk ; carsuk.net ; GTspirit

Range Rover Sport SVR

Only few days remain until the Peeble Beach Concours d’Élégance will bring us delightful surprises, such as the Ferrari 458 Italia Turbo, the Last of the Legends, and wait for it, the newest 2015 Range Rover Sport SVR

Range Rover Sport SVR will be the first model to wear the new SVR designation, which will be worn by all future high performance models. It will make its first appearance to public at this week’s Montery Car Week at the Peeble Beach on August 14th. The SVR was just seen in camouflage, and yet it is beating records. It is the most powerful production SUV car Land Rover has ever made, and it is the fastest production SUV around the Nurburgring, doing an impressive 8 minutes and 14 seconds.

All this performance comes from the newest division Land Rover and Jaguar formed : the Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations Division whose goal was to deliver to the world the most performing Range Rover ever made. They gave the SVR a lot of good features. The engine, was taken from the Sport Supercharged and The Autobiography, improved, went beyond its limits to join the ranks of the Jaguars XFR-S XKR-S and the F Type R Coupe. The car has now a 5.0L V8 engine producing 542 bhp and 501 Ib.ft of torque, making the car able to compete with its direct rivals, The Mercedes Benz ML63 AMG, The BMW X5 M, and the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S. It goes from stop to 100 km/h in 4.5 seconds, 2 tenths of a second faster than the ML63. It will have a limited top speed though, only 260 km/h. All this power will be channeled to the wheels through a tuned ZF 8-speed automatic transmission. As a result, shifts in the gearbox will occur 50% faster than the usual. Gears can be changed automatically, or, via the paddle shifters, or the gearstick.
The SVR will be fitted with 2 Transfer boxes, the driver can choose between sending full torque to the front or rear axle or use the hole Four-Wheel-Drive system. Being always a Land Rover, it will have the Land Rover Terrain Response 2 System as off-road systems. Air suspension and adaptive dampers will give a better driving experience whether in sport mode, or off-road, and to make the SVR corner flatly, it will be fitted with Active Roll control instead of anti-roll bars. It will have also recalibrated Dynamic Active Rear Locking Differential with torque vectoring and retuning of the stability control.

On the outside, the car will have a more aggressive look on the Range Rover Sport with unique front bumper design, larger air intakes and a revised rear bumper. it is will also have a 2 stage exhaust system, with electronically controlled valves. At low revs ( inferior to 3000 RPM) the valves in 2 out of 4 exhausts are closed, and at higher regime, they will open. Land Rover has left enough space between the exhaust tailpipes to place a rear diffuser . Braking is made by a 6-piston caliper brakes, courtesy of Brembo.

The last of the Legends

Bugatti unveiled The legends series a year ago, in the Lemans 90th anniversary, and on August 15, in the Peeble Beach Concours d’Élégance the world will see the last of them :  The Ettore Bugatti Legend.

The Ettore will be be an honor symbol to the founder of the company, Ettore Bugatti, it will be based on the Bugatti 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse, just like all the previous Legends : The Black Bess, The Rembrandt Bugatti, The Meo Costantini, The Jean Bugatti, and The Jean-Pierre Wimille. All named after Bugatti Legends, racing champions. And like all the Legends, only 3 editions will be made. It will be sold at a price of 2.35 million€.

As far as the engine is concerned, it is the same as a Veyron 8.0 L W16, that delivers 1200 bhp and produces 1500 Nm (1106 Ibs-ft) at the range of 3000 to 5000 RPM, allowing the car to get from 0 to 100km/h in just 2.6 seconds to a top speed of 408.84 km/h. Thus being the world fastest roadster. Power is transmitted through a 7-speed DSG (Direct Sequential Gearbox).

The design of the Ettore is based on the historical, yet elegant Type 44 Royale. The body is made of both carbon and hand-polished aluminium and finished with a clear coating making Bugatti the only manufacturer to use clear-coated aluminium on a production vehicle. Aluminium is used for the entire front and side panels including the following : bonnet, mirror housings and bases, exterior door handles, corners of the bumpers. The rear part of the vehicle is finished with dark-blue exposed carbon. The design features also polished, diamond-cut whee, with 8 spoke and dark blue finish.

Moving to the inside, completely luxurious, royal luxury, with 2 types of leather being used:

– Traditional calf leather : it is used throughout the interior.

-Cordovan leather, one of the most expensive types of leather, used on the steering wheel rim, gear lever, door handles…

The most interesting feature in the car interior is the the platinum-coated dancing elephant. It is encrusted in the cover of the rear center box being a voyage in time to remind us of the hood ornament of the Type 41 Royale.

 

We won’t have to wait long to see the Ettore, it will be unveiled to public at on August 15 at “The Quail : A Motorsport Gathering” and on August 17 at the “Peeble Beach Concours d’Élégance”