Since its launch in 2005, over 14,500 units have been sold and the success story is all set to get a boost with the introduction of the CLS Grand Edition. Features include stunning 18″ AMG 5 spoke alloy wheels with a Titanium Grey finish, front grille louvers and headlamp housings in a Palladium silver matt finish and floor mats with Grand Edition Badging.

Diesel power accounts for over seventy per cent of CLS-Class sales in the UK and is focus for this special edition as well. The CLS Grand Edition boasts a power upgrade of 48 hp which takes the overall power of the CLS 350 CDI V6 to 272 hp. This twinned with a 50 Nm increase in torque has resulted in 0-62 mph being achieved in 6.5 seconds, an improvement of half a second, without any compromise to the combined fuel consumption of 15.8 kmpl or CO2 emissions of 215 g/km.

Style and performance are important, but so is safety. In the Grand Edition the driver benefits from the Bi-Xenon Light Package as standard including the Cornering Light Function and the Active Light System. Cornering Light Function improves safety when driving slowly and on tight bends using the low beam headlamps and fog lights to illuminate the area to the side of the vehicle. The Active Light System improves road illumination in corners by up to 90% enabling the driver to see 25 metres further along an extended bend with a radius of 190 metres.

There is a choice of five colours, including, for the first time on the CLS, Palladium Silver. For those customers who want an even more exclusive look there is also the option of the unique designo Palladium Silver Matt Paint, which is not only eye catching, but also highly scratch and dirt-resistant. Only 560 units will be coming to the UK, with deliveries starting in July.

Boasting a 493kW (670hp) twin turbo V12 engine, the all-new Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG Black Series has returned to the battle front, fresh from the AMG Performance Studio.

Based on the recently updated Mercedes-Benz SL-Class, this ultra-powerful 2-seater sports car benefits from a touring car style wide body kit giving it more width and hence handling stability.

Delivering a shocking 1000Nm to the rear wheels, this is the kind of car that makes Lamborghini owners nervous, and as Mercedes explains, this super powerful sports coupe “represents the continuation of the highly successful Black Series strategy pursued by AMG, the Mercedes-Benz Cars Performance brand”.

Labelling it a “motorsport engineering thoroughbred” that opens up “new drive dynamic vistas to sports car enthusiasts”, the Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG Black Series is powered by a hand-built 6.0-litre V12 biturbo engine.

Peak power of 493kW hits the crankshaft @ 5400rpm, while peak torque of 1000Nm arrives @ 2200rpm and is sustained until 4200rpm.

AMG says that without a ‘limiter’ the engine easily produces 1200Nm of torque, which would put it in exclusive company. Think Bugatti Veyron.

Everything about the car has been tuned, modified and upgraded to provide it with a level of performance that will destroy most other cars on the road, if not the race track.

With almost 500 kilowatts of power the vehicle’s top speed is limited to 320km/h – but could go much faster without the electronic governance.

The zero to 100km/h sprint takes 3.9 seconds, which is extremely fast, and to counter the huge acceleration the brakes have also been upgraded to deliver immense and repeated stopping power.

Increasing V12’s engine power from the ‘standard’ 450kW to 493kW involved a number of changes to the motor’s componentry.

Hand built using AMG’s “one man – one engine” philosophy, the 5980cc powerplant gets a pair of new turbochargers that are 12% larger and have special sprial cross-sections to develop more power.

The turbo wastegate ducts have been modified to increase air throughput, and Mercedes-Benz has also added “modified intake air ducting” which results “in an even more spontaneous response”.

There’s also a new “charge air cooler” that is 30% more powerful according to the German company. It combines with a modified water cooling system that is guaranteed to work under “extreme dynamic driving conditions” and even at high outside temperatures which will be of interest to the select few Australians who can afford one.

New rear silencers help to reduce exhaust gas back pressure which also increases power development, and there’s also a side effect of this – improved engine acoustics through the twin trapezoid exhaust outlets pipes.

All this new power is contained with a wider, lower, sleeker body shell. Even the engine hood is new, featuring Evolution-inspired vents to allow hot air to be channeled out of the engine bay.

The Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG Black Series gains a larger front apron with wider air dams that allow higher volumes of air to reach the engine intake systems, and is also more aerodynamic.

The entire body has been modified to make it more stable and controllable at high speeds by increasing downforce. This is helped by the wider front apron, extended side skirts, a modified rear apron with a deep central diffuser channeland even a pop-up rear spoiler.

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Attention Assist sounds like something to keep kids focused on homework instead of Game Boy, but it’s Mercedes-Benz’s name for a system intended to keep drivers from falling asleep behind the wheel of the 2010 E-class luxury sedan.
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The system watches for frequent sudden small steering corrections to keep the car in its lane, which Mercedes says is one of the primary indicators of drowsy driving.

When the steering corrections and 70 other parameters Mercedes monitors indicate the driver is in danger of falling asleep, the system beeps and the image of an espresso cup lights up in instrument cluster.

Attention Assist is standard equipment on the E-class, which just went on sale at a base price of $48,600.

Mercedes says sleepy drivers are responsible for 100,000 crashes, 1,550 deaths and 71,000 injuries a year in the United States. Drowsy driving is classified as reckless driving in New Jersey, where it can be charged as a criminal offense.

Mercedes-Benz Malaysia Sdn Bhd has set its passenger car sales in 2007 – 3,606 units – as the minimum benchmark for this year’s sales.

The company sold 4,160 passenger cars last year – its highest ever.

President and chief executive officer Peter Honegg said equalling its 2008 sales would be tough, but the impact from the current global economic downturn was not as bad as it had initially expected.

“We sold 1,500 units in the first five months of 2009, representing a 1.5% dip from the same period last year. Our target this year is to at least be at the same level as in 2007 but we think we can surpass that.

“We doubt we will reach last year’s sales,” he told StarBiz at Cycle & Carriage Bintang Bhd’s (CCB)110th anniversary prize-giving ceremony on Monday.

Of the 1,500 units sold, the best seller was its Mercedes-Benz E-class. The company was monitoring its daily order intake and cancellations, Honegg said, adding that so far, Mercedes-Benz Malaysia was on target to match its 2007 sales.

CCB, a local dealer of Mercedes-Benz cars, Monday presented two B-Class cars to customers.

Honegg said it was imperative for either Mercedes-Benz Malaysia or any of the marque’s dealers to offer attractive packages during a downturn.

“With normal marketing methods, we cannot survive the crisis. We would not normally give out prizes. We are doing a lot of retail activities initiated either by our dealers or in collaboration with us,” he said.