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Mercedes-Benz furthers Grand Edition franchise with new GL model

Filed under: Crossover, Mercedes-Benz, Design/Style

Mercedes-Benz GL Grand Edition

Mercedes-Benz GL Grand Edition – Click above for high-res image gallery

Ain’t life grand? Mercedes-Benz seems to think so, as the German automaker recently introduced its Grand Edition lineup, starting with the Sprinter van, and now including the GL-Class crossover.

Available on the entire GL range, the Grand Edition adds unique 20-inch light-alloy wheels, newly designed two-tone leather seats and black ash wood trim inside the cabin. Other grandiose cues include dark-tinted headlamps, a black grille and a redesigned front bumper that incorporates standard LED running lamps for maximum bling effect.

Prices start at €80,206 for the GL350 CDI BlueEfficiency Grand Edition – about $112,716(!) based on current exchange rates – and reach as high as €99,127 ($139,292) for the range-topping GL500. Follow the jump for Merc’s official press release.

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Mercedes-Benz furthers Grand Edition franchise with new GL model originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 23 May 2011 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2011 Spanish Grand Prix goes down as a game of leap frog [spoilers]

Filed under: Motorsports, Europe

2011 Spanish Grand Prix

2011 Spanish Grand Prix – Click above for high-res image gallery

Ferrari. McLaren. Renault. Williams. The past few decades of Formula One racing have seen each of these teams at the top of their game, claiming championships and dispatching the others along the way. But after watching Brawn GP – having started out as the humble BAR-Honda team and emerging as Mercedes’ own factory squad – claim the titles just a couple of years ago, are the years of domination behind us? Or was Brawn’s victory merely a hiccup before things return to “normal”? Will Red Bull’s championship prove another exception, or will the Anglo-Austrian team emerge as the new force to be reckoned with?

It may take another year or two to watch the pattern unfold, but after winning both titles last year, Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull have come back strong in 2011. The team has converted pole position to the checkered flag at every race but one so far this season. Would this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix further gird Vettel and Red Bull in the defense of their titles, or would a new challenger draw blood around the corners and down the straights of Barcelona? Continue reading for a recap of today’s action.

Continue reading 2011 Spanish Grand Prix goes down as a game of leap frog [spoilers]

2011 Spanish Grand Prix goes down as a game of leap frog [spoilers] originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 22 May 2011 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Bijan’s custom Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport revealed

Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Videos, Bugatti, Design/Style, Luxury

Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport by Bijan

Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport by Bijan – Click above to watch the videos after the jump

Persian fashion designer Bijan Pakzad was a genuine car nut, and he drove high-dollar exotics on a regular basis. He passed away last month while he was working on a series of special editions for Rolls-Royce, but before he left this world he worked up this one-of-a-kind Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport.

Bijan’s signature yellow dominates everything on this custom Veyron, from the broad stripe running up the center of the polished aluminum bodywork to the wheels and interior. As you can see, Bijan’s trademark bearded face motif is featured prominently on the nose, and Bijan logos are even featured on both sides of the rear wing. There’s even an iPad installed in between the seats that displays the same flower as those rotated daily in his Rodeo Drive boutique.

Created in close collaboration with Bugatti and its design director, Achim Anschdeidt, the car was completed six weeks ago. Low-key it is not, but then neither were Bijan and his other designs. And as you can see from the second video after the jump, it wasn’t the flamboyant designer’s first custom Veyron, either.

Continue reading Bijan’s custom Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport revealed

Bijan’s custom Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport revealed originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 14 May 2011 18:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2011 Turkish Grand Prix was just the pits [spoilers]

Filed under: Motorsports, Middle East

2011 Turkish Grand Prix

2011 Turkish Grand Prix – Click above for high-res image gallery

Few could have seen it coming: The team that was started by a multiple world champion, then taken over by a British automaker only to be bought out by a beverage company would win the world championship. And win it in spectacular style, too. But surely it was a fluke when Red Bull rose to the top of the heap last season. A fluke like when Brawn GP seized the championship the year before. A fluke the likes of which we hadn’t seen – amid decades of Ferrari, McLaren, Williams and Benetton/Renault alternating for the trophy – since Matra and Tyrrell scored the titles in ’69 and ’71 respectively – at the hands of the same Jackie Stewart who, in 1997, started the team now known as Red Bull. That kind of fluke, right? They couldn’t possibly keep it up…could they?

Well, if Red Bull was to fall off the podium this season like Brawn did after its title and acquisition by Mercedes-Benz, we certainly wouldn’t know it from the first three rounds so far. Defending world champion Sebastian Vettel took pole position at all three opening rounds, turning them into two wins upset only by fellow champion Lewis Hamilton taking the top step in Shanghai. Would Vettel and Red Bull take their place at the top again this weekend in Istanbul? Would Hamilton be poised to upset his Germanic rivals once again? Or would it be someone else’s chance this time? Follow the jump to read on and find out.

Continue reading 2011 Turkish Grand Prix was just the pits [spoilers]

2011 Turkish Grand Prix was just the pits [spoilers] originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 08 May 2011 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Buddh International Circuit gears up for inaugural Indian Grand Prix

Filed under: Motorsports, India

Buddh International Circuit
A few years ago, India wasn’t a place one would naturally associate with Formula 1 racing. Now, however, the country has its own F1 team (Force India), a couple of F1 drivers (Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok) and will soon host its first grand prix.

The race is scheduled to take place on October 30, 2011, on the new Hermann Tilke-designed Buddh International Circuit. named for the region in which it resides. The circuit was designed to be one of the fastest on the calendar, with lap times for a contemporary F1 car set to come in around 1 minute, 20 seconds, with projected speeds topping 320 km/h (just under 200 mph). With 5.14 kilometers (3.19 miles) of track and sixteen turns, the facility is being constructed as part of a $400 million project that the FIA is expected to sign off on this July.

[Source: JPSI Sports]

Buddh International Circuit gears up for inaugural Indian Grand Prix originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 30 Apr 2011 14:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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21-year-old driver survives 200-foot plunge into Grand Canyon

Filed under: Etc.

grand canyon

Veering off the road is a scary event. Veering off the road that runs around the rim of the Grand Canyon is downright terrifying. Typically, a scenario that involves the terms “Grand Canyon,” “automobile” and “plunge” usually end with the phrase “the fat lady has sung.” For one particular 21-year-old man, that luckily doesn’t seem to be the case.

Stating that he “accidentally drove over the rim,” the driver and his vehicle dropped 200 feet before winding up snagged in some trees. The man climbed back to the top of the canyon’s rim, flagged down help and was treated at an area hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. This leads us to believe the vehicle in question was either a Canyonero or the driver’s bones are made up of a mixture of horseshoes and rabbit’s feet. In any case, we’re glad he made it out alive.

[Source: AZ Daily Sun | Image: kasyhap_hc/Flickr CC 2.0]

21-year-old driver survives 200-foot plunge into Grand Canyon originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 17:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Wrangler Unlimited diesels

Filed under: SUV, Jeep, First Drive, Diesel

Jeep’s Best And Brightest Lose Their Spark Plugs, Add Whoop-Ass

2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0 CRD

2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0 CRD – Click above for high-res image gallery

We’re all suitably bowled over by the chest-hair enhancing Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, with its compression-ratio gulping 6.4-liter Hemi V8 booming out 465 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque. Love it all, but we have trouble seeing anyone on Earth actually realizing its promised 13 percent improvement in fuel efficiency, much less its pie-in-sky 450-mile range. Give us a break, Jeep. Tell us anything, but don’t tell us to embrace this new raging V8 as the ecologists’ super SUV. It has Track mode, for the love of Pete. Say hello to $5+ fun every 10 or so miles when the SRT8 is driven as Jeep’s engineers have clearly intended. Then we dare you to tow anything and afford it. We’re by no means damning the utterly awesome SRT8, just saying…

If you read enthusiast outlets, a diesel Jeep has been one of the leading wish-list items, well… forever.

One other recent improvement for Jeep in time for its 70th anniversary – beyond this latest Grand Cherokee lineup that continues to shine – is the nearly 100-percent better (and now nearly competitive) Compass. Then, in the near future, the Patriot and Compass will likely – and rightly – merge into one model, there will be a new entry-level “B SUV” and we suspect the Liberty will return to its proper name, Cherokee. Top all of this off with the promised rebirth of the legendary Grand Wagoneer three-row down the road, and it’s all looking right on track.

So, where’s the common-rail direct-injected turbo diesel?

The Europeans have just been shown their next-generation Jeep turbo diesels and we had a chance to sample these latest and greatest oil-burners at the Fiat Auto proving grounds in Balocco, Italy. We grabbed the ones we like the most: the Grand Cherokee 4×4 Laredo with 3.0-liter CRD V6 and gnarly-yet-comfortable Wrangler Unlimited Sahara with 2.8-liter four-cylinder CRD and wondrous six-speed manual. Word has it that the Grand Cherokee CRD is set to hit the States by late 2013. The Wrangler in Trail-Rated Rubicon guise with a 3.0 CRD V6 and six-speed manual is many off-roaders’ dream chariot, but there is currently no talk of this happy-hour cocktail coming our way or even ever exiting from Jeep’s Toledo, Ohio plant. That’d be a pity.

Continue reading First Drive: Jeep Grand Cherokee and Wrangler Unlimited diesels…

Gallery: 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0 CRD: First Drive

2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0 CRD

Gallery: 2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited 2.8 CRD: First Drive

2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited 2.8 CRD

Continue reading 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Wrangler Unlimited diesels

2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Wrangler Unlimited diesels originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Formula One’s Turkish Grand Prix is on the outs

Filed under: Motorsports, Earnings/Financials

Bernie Ecclestone mobbed by cameras

Formula One and Turkey are apparently on the splits, as Turkish newspaper Haberturk claims that the Turkish Grand Prix won’t take place in 2012. Istanbul chamber of commerce chief Murat Yalcintas reportedly told the publication “It looks like the Formula One race won’t be held in Istanbul next year.” The reported reason for the decision was that Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone (above) raised the race fee from $13 million to $26 million; a price Istanbul doesn’t appear eager to meet.

The paper claims that the reason for the decision has less to do with the rising cost of F1 and more to do with the fact that Ecclestone is interested in a 2012 race in Moscow. F1 has made no formal announcements regarding a foray into Moscow or the future of the Turkey race.

[Source: Bloomberg | Image: Clive Mason/Getty]

Report: Formula One’s Turkish Grand Prix is on the outs originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 22 Apr 2011 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New York 2011: Jeep says point of 2012 Grand Cherokee SRT8 was better, not faster

Filed under: New York Auto Show, Performance, SUV, Jeep, Luxury, Off-Road

2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 – Click above for high-res image gallery

At the 2011 New York Auto Show, we asked Joseph Grace, vehicle line executive for the SRT line, about the specs on the new 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 – specifically, why didn’t they make it… more. The previous Grand Cherokee SRT8 was said to reach 60 miles per hour “in under five seconds” while the new one is pegged at 4.8 seconds. While that’s an improvement of, at most, one-nineteenth of a second, it puts it right about square with the Mercedes ML63 AMG and at least three-tenths of a second adrift of the BMW X5 M.

But Grace said that wasn’t really the point. “The major issues customers had that we wanted to address,” he said, “were the ride, the exhaust, and fuel economy and range.” This wasn’t about making a faster SUV, it was about filling in the gaps of the previous model.

The center-mounted exhaust was swapped for dual pipes at the corners. The engine technologies – “it’s the first time we’ve coupled all-out performance with cylinder deactivation and active exhaust,” Grace said – have yielded better gas mileage and longer range.

The adaptive ride suspension developed in conjunction with Bilstein addresses the handling issues with five settings. On the matter of having a Track setting in such serious tonnage, Grace said “It was an application we had available with the adaptive damping.” It shunts a little more torque to the rear wheels, going to a 60/40 front-to-rear split instead of 65/35, but Grace says “The track setting will keep the tires on the ground and makes [the ride] stiff but it can still be used on the road.”

As for those German rivals, Grace said “We haven’t announced pricing, but in comparison to the others it will be a benchmark in performance-for-value in a super-equipped vehicle.”

Gallery: 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8: New York 2011

2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 at the 2011 New York Auto Show

New York 2011: Jeep says point of 2012 Grand Cherokee SRT8 was better, not faster originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 arrives as quickest Jeep ever made

Filed under: New York Auto Show, Performance, SUV, Crossover, Jeep

2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8

2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 – Click above for high-res image gallery

The 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 will make its official debut on the floor of the 2011 New York Auto Show today and, according to Chrysler, it’s the fastest Jeep ever built. How does 0-60 miles per hour in 4.8 seconds on its way to a governed 155-mph top speed sound? For those of you who live your lives a quarter mile at a time, the big Jeep will down the strip in the mid-13-second range.

Even with performance numbers knocking on supercar territory, not to mention a 465-horsepower 6.4-liter Hemi V8, Jeep claims the new SRT8 gets 13-percent better fuel economy than its predecessor. To keep the gas mileage respectable, Jeep has employed a new active exhaust system that lets Chrysler’s cylinder-deactivating Fuel Saver Technology operate over a wider RPM band. The fuel economy numbers are so good that the SUV can now travel up to 450 miles on a single tank before needing another drink of dinosaur juice.

Straight-line numbers and (relatively) impressive MPGs aren’t this big SUV’s only trick. Thanks in part to Jeep’s new Selec-Track system with five distinct drive modes (including Sport), Chrysler says the new Grand Cherokee SRT8 will also hold on for a .90-g skid pad performance. Even better, it can haul itself down from 60 mph in an abrupt 116 feet.

Inside there’s a list of standard features as long as your arm, including SIRIUS satellite radio, a DVD and MP3-capable stereo and new steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters. Options include a 19-speaker, 825-watt Harmann-Kardon stereo complete with a 10-inch subwoofer, a dual-pane tinted sunroof and a power liftgate.

Look for the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 to hit dealerships this summer, and stay tuned for live shots of the new SRT8 direct from the 2011 New York Auto Show floor later today. In the meantime, there’s more details in Jeep’s lengthy press release after the jump.

[Source: Chrysler]

Continue reading 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 arrives as quickest Jeep ever made

2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 arrives as quickest Jeep ever made originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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