Over at Chevrolet HQ, the bubbly is flowing like high-octane unleaded. Of all the sports cars sold in the U.S. in 2011, 30 percent were either a Camaro or Corvette. Woo hoo! *POP!*

Take that, Ford Mustang! Take that, Dodge Challenger! Take that, um, Hyundai Veloster? and Honda CR-Z? Yeah, Camaro trounced all y’all! Beat Mustang by almost 18,000 cars and the Dodge Challenger by, wow, more than 48,000 units! And don’t even think about lining up your CR-Z next to a Camaro, ’cause you’ll get smoked!

In the big-ticket sports car class, the Corvette is still king. In fact, nearly as many Vettes were sold in 2011 as the Porsche 911, BMW 6 Series and the Z4 combined.

But back to the Camaro. Why is the (at minimum) 323-horsepower Camaro listed alongside the relatively anemic 122-hp Honda and 138-hp Hyundai? Smoke and mirrors from Chevy? Maybe, but probably not. They’re all two-door coupes… except for the Veloster which has three. They’re also all available in red and considered compact cars by the EPA…. except for the CR-Z, which is a two-seater. More likely, the three are in the same GM target market of 25-40-year-old males… who want to get 40 mpg while going 150 mph with the convenience of a hatchback?
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Mercedes-Benz? Good. Mercedes AMG? Better. Mercedes AMG Black Series? Now we’re talkin’. The top of the line range from the German automaker’s performance division has tinkered with CLK, SLK, SL and C-Class to devastating effect. The trouble is, as much as we love driving these kinds of performance machines on the road, we have to begrudgingly admit that most of the earth’s surface is covered in water. That’s where Mercedes’ partnership with Cigarette speedboats comes into play.

The two powerhouses have collaborated in the past on an SLS-inspired 46-foot speedboat, then passed the goods on to partner Ducati for a special-liveried 42-footer, but now the partnership has lead to the 50-footer you see here.
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Though the Ford Transit Connect may be a niche player in the North American market, the small van market is big business in Europe. According to Mercedes-Benz, it accounts for some 700,000 units annually, and that’s a pie of which Daimler wouldn’t mind getting a bigger slice. And so it has announced its new Citan.

Taking its name from a combination of City and Titan, the Citan will slot in below the Vario, Sprinter and Vito in order to meet the needs of workers who need to get around crowded city streets and take their gear with them. Mercedes plans to offer it in a broad range of configurations, lengths and engine options once it hits the market in the fall.
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Of all the car shows around the calendar year, the Boca Raton Concours d’Elegance doesn’t typically fall on our radar screen. But maybe it should, because the annual event in Florida – young as it is – has a history of offering firsts. Maybe not the first time a vehicle is seen in North America, mind you, but a first just the same.

Last year the event included the sale of the first examples of the Ferrari FF, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster and Audi R8 GT to be delivered in America. The year before that, it was the Audi R8 5.2 FSI (yeah, that’s the one with the V10) and Ferrari California. And before that, the event’s auctioneers sold off the first Audi R8 Spyder, Ferrari 458 Italia and Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG.
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For 15 years, McLaren was the F1 team of choice for Mercedes-Benz, enjoying a near-works level of support and collaboration from the German automaker. But as you may recall, Daimler bought its own team three seasons ago: the outfit that started out as British American Racing, then became Honda before branching out as Brawn GP, was rebranded Mercedes GP under its latest management and now rechristened Mercedes AMG Petronas. And ever since, McLaren has had to deflect speculation that it was looking for a new engine supplier.
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Mercedes-Benz has its heart set on boosting its U.S. sales by more than 20 percent, and Automotive News reports that mission may include plans for an extended range hybrid. Joachim Schmidt, head of global sales for Mercedes-Benz, said a special, U.S.-only B-Class plug-in hybrid with a range-extending electric motor may be headed to the States soon. Read More »

There are hundreds of aftermarket tuners out there, but few hold the type of street cred that does Veilside. Long known for making Japan’s greatest sportscars even greater, Veilside has now turned its attention to the Mercedes-Benz SL.

Not the newest one, mind you, because it’s not out yet. Instead, Veilside has taken to the Tokyo Auto Salon to unveil a conversion kit that turns the outgoing SL into something closer to the top-of-the-line SL65 AMG Black Series. Read More »