Mercedes-Benz CLS63 News

The current Mercedes-Benz E-Class and CLS-Class models are being recalled due to the possibility of an engine bay seal becoming damaged and coming into contact with hot engine bay components. The affected seal is located in the secondary bulkhead in the engine compartment, and could result in fire if it becomes loose.The recall affects just seven vehicles, which were sold in Australia between the start of April and May 2015.Mercedes-Benz will contact the owners of affected vehicles by mail, and the fault will be rectified free of charge.Related: What are car safety recalls all about? 

A refreshed Mercedes-Benz CLS has been captured by Carsguide's spy photographers during the car's testing in the icy weather of northern Europe, giving us a look at the styling tweaks that will give a mid-life update for the prestige four-door coupe four years after it first launched.The barely-camouflaged prototype caught on camera shows minor revisions are on the way for the front and rear fascia and the lights. The headlight clusters are getting new LED beams, now topped by restyled LED daytime running lights echoing the S-Class, while a mesh grille brings the nose styling draws closer to that of the A-Class and CLA-Class.Our spies say the cabin scores a redesigned steering wheel, plus a nearly iPad-sized larger COMAND display screen jutting upwards from the dash. The new CLS is likely to be unveiled later this year and arrive in Australia in 2015, followed by the Shooting Brake wagon version.While drivetrains are yet to be confirmed, they are are expected to continue with the 250 and 250CDi but tipped to echo the rationalisation of the E-Class by dropping the range-topping 500's V8 in favour of a V6-powered 400. Mercedes-Benz has just repositioned the current CLS line-up, slashing the CLS250 and CLS250 CDI by $5000, and the range-topping CLS500 by just over $50,000, while axing the mid-range CLS350 and CLS350 CDI.

Photographer Mario Testino, make-up guru Charlotte Tilbury, a leggy model and...another stunning model: the Mercedes-Benz CLS 63AMG Shooting Brake.

...A second-generation CLS is a no-brainer for Mercedes-Benz.But there is a twist, called the Shooting Break, which stretches the coupe into an upscale station wagon.It's just a pity it looks like a Hyundai i40.

Kids aren’t usually a factor in Car of the Year judging.  But child friendliness rates highly with women buying cars – and with women judging cars.The countdown has been kicked off to decide the Women’s World Car of the Year, and the kid factor is one the judges pay a lot of attention to.“Statistics show that women drive children in cars significantly more often than men – and that means women need to take that into account, both when buying and as judges of cars,” WCOTY president Sandy Myhre said from New Zealand.“Any woman who has grappled constantly with child seats and belts and children considers those things when looking at buying a car.  Men might too but the fact is, women drive children in cars more than men.“Women would not consider that aspect in a Porsche 911 more than a bloke. The point is, it can be considered in these awards - and that is one of the points of difference in these awards.”Myhre points out that significant research into buying habits show that in addition to buying for themselves, women have a major influence in household purchase decisions for big ticket items.Ford Australia, for example, says their research shows that women are behind the majority of purchases of the Territory SUV – either as single women buying one, or in influencing the joint decision with their partner. “A report from Mattingly & Associates in Australia concluded, in part, that businesses that didn't understand this influence would be hard-pressed to stay in business.  That report was aptly called 'When I've Made Up Our Minds',” Myhre says.However, the kid factor is just one of the criteria by which the 2012 Women’s World Car of the Year will be judged.There are four categories in the Women's World Car of the Year – Family Car, Luxury Car, Sports Car and Economy Car. Points are allocated to each of ten criteria: driveability, engineering, comfort, child friendliness, style, interior, storage, dashboard efficiency, carbon footprint and colour range.The 20 judges from eleven countries have submitted their own personal short list and more than 300 cars were suggested. These individual choices were then whittled down to form a master list of 32 in terms of popularity. Judges will now allocate points for these cars from a criteria list.The announcement of the winning cars in each category and the supreme winner will be made before the end of March. The supreme award trophy and category certificates will be presented to the car companies concerned at the Mondial de l’Automobile 2012 – the Paris Motor Show – in September. The supreme trophy will this year be made in The Netherlands. Category-winner certificates will be designed at Peartree Studios in Colerne, UK.The first winner of the Women's World Car of the Year was the Jaguar XF in 2010 and the trophy made in South Africa was presented at the Jaguar boutique showroom in Knightsbridge, London. In 2011 there was a dead-heat between the Citroen DS3 and the BMW 5 Series. The two trophies made in India were presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2011. 

The Mercedes-Benz Shooting Break concept has aired ahead of its debut at Auto China in Beijing. Although Mercedes executives aren't revealing too much, the Shooting Break shows off the future direction if the German carmaker chooses to make a station wagon version of the CLS. With Audi’s A7 hatchback arriving soon and BMW’s recently introduced 5-Series GT, a CLS wagon could be on the cards. Even though the Shooting Break is a concept the long, low and sleek design looks production ready with a roof that tapers towards the rear of the car, providing an almost coupe-like shape. At the front the grille and headlight treatment borrows some cues from the SLS AMG. The grille is flanked by LED headlights on each side - the first time Mercedes has used LED technology to such a dynamic effect. The side profile and shoulder line is sharp and leads down to a Pontoon-style curve above the rear wheel arches at the rear doors. The coupe-like profile is emphasized by the shallow window design. Inside the concept gets plenty of wood and leather and an eye-catching full-length centre console, which dictates that this is a four-seater only. The wooden floor of the luggage area gets contrasting silky oak highlights and aluminium highlights and protective strips. Powering the Merc is one of the next-generation V-engines.

It says everything about the ubiquity of such things that the authorities in Baghdad are holding one. What better way to present the image that all's well in this most dangerous of cities than to stick a bunch of cars on stands and charge admission?The realisation that these things are becoming a bit of a yawn has not been lost on the organisers of the British International Motor Show, which has kicked off in London's Docklands.It started with the most memorable pre-launch stunt in recent history, Opel's new Insignia being lowered by a massive crane from atop Tower Bridge. Cute as these things go, but counting for nothing if the show lacked stars and substance.Unlike some other international motor shows, the Brit edition has plenty of both. There are 600 cars running the alphabetical gamut from Alfa Romeo to ZEV (that'd be Zero Emission Vehicles) worth some $100 million.While Britain's biggest consumer exhibition comes close to being all things to all people, it's the 23 models making their debut that is the chief draw for the anticipated 550,000 punters.The show-stealer is undoubtedly the Lotus Evora. The Norfolk marque's first all-new model in 12 years is a mid-engined 2+2 V6, intended to give Porsche something to think about, especially if _ as anticipated _ it combines the brand's trademark lightweight build (just 1350kg) with razor handling.While the Evora represents a significant step forward for Lotus, Jaguar has looked to the past for the XK60, a captivating special edition of the current production coupe to commemorate the unveiling of legendary XK120 sporters in 1948.Powered by the atmo version of the 4.2 V8, the Jag cops enhancements such as 20-inch Senta alloy wheels, alloy gear knob and selector-gate surround, new front spoiler, chrome-finished side vents and special tailpipe finishers. Which is nice.Performance with an eco-conscience? Why not? Mercedes-Benz is showcasing its BlueTEC version of the stylish CLS. Reassuringly for the rev-hungry, there's a Brabus-built Bullit Black Arrow, their V12-engined C-Class.The show's green tinge is evident in the Lightning Car Company's Lightning, a 100 per cent electric GT sports car, and Allied Vehicles' E7 electric taxi, whose lithium-ion batteries imbue the seven-seater with a range of 160km and top speed of 100km/h. Other green gambits include the Ford Fiesta ECOnetic with carbon dioxide emissions of less than 100g/km.While the British blowout is not spoken of in the same breath as the biennial Frankfurt or Paris salons, the lesson for organisers of Australian events are salient.Not least of these is making `events' singular _ just as we have too much government for 21 million people, there are too many annual shows. Oh, and staging it in a venue that's spacious and accessible isn't a bad idea, either. 

Fuel prices and economic uncertainty have not stopped Mercedes-Benz from rolling out a new set of sports stars at the top of its line-up. It has just tweaked the droptop SLK and SL, as well as the four-door CLS coupe, as it applies showroom pressure on BMW, Audi and Lexus rivals.The changes are mainly minor, although the latest SL looks far more aggressive in the nose (and is also $4000 to $8000 more expensive) but Benz is looking closely at the potential for turbodiesel power in the trio.According to president and CEO, Wolfgang Schrempp, the company has shown off such engines in Europe and these are now being evaluated for Australia. The company already delivers more than 20 per cent of its Australian vehicles with turbodiesels.In 2005 it unveiled an SLK 320 CDI tri-turbo concept at the Geneva Motor Show with 213kW and 630Nm and economy of 7.5 litres per 100km. At the same show it displayed a twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 diesel SL that could charge to 100km/h in 5.8 seconds.In Europe, Mercedes also sells a CLS 320 CDI with a 165kW/540Nm V6 turbodiesel that delivers 7.6 to 8.1 litres per 100km.The newcomers arrive at a time when the luxury car business is tightening, but Mercedes-Benz Australia managing director Horst vonSanden remains bullish. He hopes the Federal Government will give some ground on the planned hike in the luxury car tax but admits it isn't easy.“There's no denying it's giving us some grief,” he says. But von Sanden, like Schrempp, is looking to turbodiesels to give Benz an edge.“We're very happy with our turbodiesel line-up, from the BClass upwards,” he says.Later this year it will introduce a 2.0-litre turbodiesel A180CDI that uses as little as 5.0 litres per 100km. The engine is already fitted to the BClass. For the time being though, the company is focused on the new petrol-engined trio.The three-model SLK range kicks off at $86,780 for the 1.8-litre SLK200 Kompressor, $112,380 for the 3.5-litre V6 SLK 350 and $164,900 for the 5.5-litre V8 SLK 55 AMG.A new six-speed manual transmission is now available in the SLK200K and Mercedes expects the take-up to be about 25per cent with the SLK 350 being the volume seller.Visually, the SLK gains a modest nip and tuck, with four different frontal treatments, tail-lights and improved interior trim.Five distinct SL models are now available. They start at $223,000 for the 232kW/360Nm V6SL 350, which rises to $468,000 for the 450kW/1000Nm V12 SL65 AMG.The three-model CLS range starts at $143,900 for the 200kW/350Nm V6 CLS 350, $182,400 for the 285kW/530Nm V8 CLS 500 and $257,800 for the 378kW/630NmV8 CLS 63 AMG.The three updates are planned to give a worthwhile sales improvement, as last year Mercedes-Benz Australia sold 570 SLKs, 501 CLSs and 104 SLs.