Mercedes-Benz CL-Class 2014 News

New S-Class Coupe to make Australian debut at Motorclassica, along with appearances from Maserati, Jaguar, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin and Lotus.Melbourne's Royal Exhibition Building will play host to Motorclassica this weekend, as over 500 cars and motorcycles fill the world-heritage listed building and its surrounding grounds.Celebrating classic cars and bikes, Motorclassica started as a concourse event but has since grown to become a motor show-style exhibition which has attracted attention from several iconic sports car marques.Among the classic cars at this year's event will be new models from Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Porsche, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Lotus, Caterham and Morgan.Each of these brands have rich histories, and Motorclassica gives manufacturers a platform to build on this heritage with their latest models.S-Class Coupe will be available with a number of powertrains, including the 430kW/900Nm AMG 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8Mercedes-Benz was the first contemporary manufacturer to debut a new model at Motorclassica last year, and will use this year's event to reveal its new S-Class Coupe to an Australian audience for the first time.The new model is Mercedes' flagship luxury coupe, replacing the CL-Class range, and will rival the Bentley Continental when it goes on sale locally in the first quarter of next year.Though Australian specifications are still unconfirmed, the S-Class Coupe will be available with a number of powertrains, including the 430kW/900Nm AMG 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8 aboard the S63 performance flagship.Maserati will celebrate 100 years in the automotive business at this year's show and is expected to be represented strongly with iconic past models. The Italian marque's new Ghibli and Quattroporte sedans will also be on display, along with the Gran Turismo and Gran Cabrio two-door models.Jaguar will showcase its F-Type R Coupe, the firm's most powerful production model ever, while fellow British brand Aston Martin will have a Vanquish and V8 Vantage on display.Lotus will also show a pair of mid-engine Exige S sports cars, one hardtop and one roadster.The show will also celebrate 50 years of the Ford Mustang with a special display featuring the most desirable and classic Pony cars, although the new 2015 model due to go on sale in Australia next year won't make the show.Motorclassica 2014 will run between October 24-26 at Melbourne's Royal Exhibition Building.

The new Mercedes-Benz C-Class is scheduled to be officially unveiled at January's Detroit motor show, but we were expecting to see images from the carmaker ahead of that. However they've been beaten to it by Spanish website Diariomotor, which has published a set of photos.As with the official interior images we've seen previously, the first proper look at the front of the C-Class shows clear styling cues taken from the brand's flagship S-Class. A number of tech features have also been borrowed from the bigger siblings, including air suspension, vehicle surround monitoring systems and more advanced active braking systems.The latest images show two variants: the standard C-Class and a version that looks to have the optional AMG sports package -- however not the full AMG-tweaked variant that will launch soon after the normal line-up.The new C is expected to arrive here in the second half of next year, with Mercedes already saying it will be better equipped, more economical and up to 100kg lighter than the outgoing model, without any loss of power.The trimmer weight has come from extensive use of aluminium body panels -- rising from nine to 48 per cent -- and the use of the scalable MRA rear-wheel-drive platform (also used for the larger E-Class and S-Class) that combines lightweight and higher-strength materials to shed kilos and increase rigidity.Engine details haven't been confirmed yet, but are expected to include a turbocharged 1.8-litre four-cylinder for the entry-level variant, with V6 and turbodiesels further up the range, and a petrol-electric hybrid on the cards. The AMG model will carry one of the tuning arm's hand-built units, most likely a new twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8.