While 2009 was a tumultuous year for automakers, the worldwide economic crisis pushed the auto industry into the mainstream automotive media’s spotlight, making big automotive news stories even bigger. And while new products continued to be introduced, they garnered possibly even more attention that ever before. With that in mind, we thought we’d take a look back at some of the Top 10 biggest stories of 2009 for an automaker that didn’t recoil, but continued on, unveiling an all-new version of one of its most important models, delivering a new exotic car to market, promising an electric car in the future… and making some big changes in its motorsports program. That automaker is Mercedes-Benz.

#10 Mercedes Goes Green With New Hybrids

Slow to adapt hybrid technology, German automakers began to take on the Japanese luxury hybrids in 2009. Mercedes launched two important hybrid models, the S400 Hybrid and the ML450 Hybrid. The S400 Hybrid was the first Mercedes hybrid to go on sale and is also the first mass production automobile to use a lithium-ion battery. Priced at $87,950 it uses an electric motor and 3.5-liter gasoline V6 to produce 295-hp, while getting mileage of 19/26 mpg – an improvement of 26 percent over the S550 in the city. Despite its high-tech battery pack, the S400 Hybrid is a mild-hybrid, which limits its fuel economy.

The second hybrid model from Mercedes is the ML450 Hybrid 4MATIC. A lease-only model, for either 36 or 60 months, at either $659 or $549 per month, the ML450 is the first two-mode hybrid (like the Toyota Prius) from Mercedes. The ML450 uses a 3.5-liter V6 engine and two electric motors to make 335-hp and 381 ft-lbs of torque. Unlike the S400 Hybrid, it will be able to operate exclusively on electric power for short periods of time. Its fuel economy is rated at 21/24 mpg (city/highway), which is roughly the same as the ML350 Bluetec diesel at 18/25 mpg. This is also a 46 percent improvement over the fuel economy rating of the similarly-powerful ML550.

The next step for Mercedes in the field of hybrids comes with the Vision S500 Plug-In Hybrid, which debuted at the Frankfurt Auto Show and foreshadows a plug-in hybrid version of the next generation S-Class. Thanks to a direct-injection 3.5-liter V6 engine mated to a 60-hp/184 ft-lb electric motor and a lithium-ion battery pack, the car is capable of getting an amazing 73.5 mpg! Possibly more shocking is that the car doesn’t sacrifice performance, with a 0-60 mph time of 5.4 seconds. Additionally, the electric motor will be able to power the car emissions-free for 18 miles.

As rumored, Mercedes-Benz has decided to part ways with McLaren after 15 years as partners in Formula 1, opting instead to buy a majority stake in the Brawn GP team. The new team, named Mercedes Grand Prix, will run in the 2010 F1 season, keeping much of the Brawn team, including team principal Ross Brawn.

The Brawn GP team entered the 2009 Formula One World Championship as serious underdogs, using the underperforming Honda cars. And yet, the team managed to clinch both the Constructors’ and Drivers’ World Championships.

“We look back on 15 successful years of great collaboration with McLaren; in that time, we won four world-championship titles and finished ten times as runner-up in the drivers’ and constructors’ rankings,” siad Norbert Haug, VP of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport. “Since the first victory in the 1997 Australian Grand Prix, the modern Silver Arrows have achieved a total of 60 victories in 223 races to ensure that our brand symbol, the star, stands for the greatest successes in Formula 1. We thank our partner and will continue to work with McLaren based on an excellent partnership.”

Daimler AG boss Dr. Dieter Zetsche thanked McLaren stating that, “For the benefit of both Mercedes and McLaren, we will continue our partnership cooperation in future. We will be rivals on-track but, off-track, we will cooperate with McLaren and the other teams in order to create the best possible product for spectators worldwide.”

The partnership between the two companies is much more strained than that, however, as Mercedes has also announced it will let McLaren buy back the 40 percent stake it now holds. That transaction should be completed by 2011, fully dissolving the Mercedes McLaren business relationship.

Official release after the jump:

If you’re at all interested in cars, you’re certain to be interested in McLaren’s new exotic, the MP4-12C. And if you’ve read anything about the new Ferrari-fighter, you’re likely impressed by its technological sophistication and want to know more about it. Well today must be your lucky day as McLaren Automotive has just release a short video highlighting the company’s extensive development process.

Not only is the MP4-12C stunning, but it has been built to rival the world’s best, with a twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8 engine that makes 600hp and 433 ft-lbs of torque. No performance specs have yet been released but we expect a 0-60 mph time of around 3.5 seconds with a top speed in the 200 mph range.

The V8 engine is mated to a new 7-speed dual-clutch transmission that promises even faster gear changes than conventional systems thanks to the ability to let the driver pre-load a gear by half pressing the shift paddle, which will ready the transmission for the next gear.

What really separates the MP4 from cars like the 458 however is the use of a full-cabon monocoque chassis (like the new Lexus LFA), rather than a weaker and heavier structure made of welded aluminum, steel, magnesium or other materials. This main chassis component weights just 176 lbs so we should expect the vehicle’s curb weight to be impressively low.

The MP4 will go on sale in 2011 with roughly 1,000 units being made ensuring the new car is highly exclusive. The car is expected to cost  £160,000 ($265k).

GALLERY: McLaren MP4-12C

McLaren has officially made it clear that the company’s new M4-12C exotic will be sold in North America with the appointment of a director to the region.

Anthony Joseph will head up McLaren Automotive North America, while Christian Marti was also appointed as the regional director for Europe. A network of 10 McLaren franchises in the U.S. and Canada will be set up for the MP4’s production launch in 2011.

“This is such an amazing opportunity to be part of the launch of not just a brand new range of high-tech sports cars, but the launch of a new car company in a region which will be a major market for McLaren Automotive,” said Joseph. “Utilizing our engineering expertise and racing heritage, we will build cars using nothing but McLaren components, in lower numbers, and higher quality than our competitors. This ensures exclusivity, which I’m sure will be a major factor in generating strong demand and ongoing high residual values from 2011.”

Joseph has a long history in the automotive industry, having started with Subaru of America in the 1990’s as a district sales manager, before moving to Porsche North America in 1998 and then on to Maserati and finally to Ferrari before landing the position at McLaren.

The McLaren MP4-12C is aimed squarely at exotics like the Ferrari 458 Italia and Lamborghini Gallardo. It is powered by a twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8 engine that makes 600hp and 433 ft-lbs of torque. No performance specs have yet been released but we expect a 0-60 mph time of around 3.5 seconds with a top speed in the 200 mph range. The V8 engine is mated to a new 7-speed dual-clutch transmission. The vehicle’s weight promises to be exceptionally low thanks to a full-carbon monocoque chassis, rather than a weaker and heavier structure made of welded aluminum, steel, magnesium or other materials.

The MP4 will go on sale in 2011 with roughly 1,000 units being made ensuring the new car is highly exclusive. The car is expected to cost £160,000 ($265k).

GALLERY: McLaren MP4-12C

Official release after the jump:

If a picture is worth a thousand words then we have a lot of words for you. After McLaren released a whole bunch of CGI images earlier today, along with specs of the new MP4-12C exotic, the British automaker has now released a gallery of real life images of the car… and it looks even better.

While not quite the full-blown supercar that the F1 was, the MP4 is a serious exotic, aimed squarely a the Ferrari 458 Italia. The powerplant is a twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8 engine that makes 600hp and 433 ft-lbs of torque. McLaren says the engine offers the highest horsepower to CO2 ratio of any engine on the market – including hybrids. No performance specs have yet been released but we expect a 0-60 mph time of around 3.5 seconds with a top speed in the 200 mph range.

The V8 engine is mated to a new 7-speed dual-clutch transmission that promises even faster gear changes than conventional systems thanks to the ability to let the driver pre-load a gear by half pressing the shift paddle, which will ready the transmission for the next gear.

What really separates the MP4 from cars like the 458 however is the use of a full-cabon monocoque chassis, rather than a weaker and heavier structure made of welded aluminum, steel, magnesium or other materials. This main chassis component weights just 176 lbs so we should expect the vehicle’s curb weight to be impressively low.

“It is a long-held dream of mine to launch high performance sports cars that set new standards in the industry,” said Dennis.

“We began designing and building cars for aficionados of thoroughbred sports cars almost 20 years ago. Incorporating the leading edge technologies that the McLaren Group has built up within its various companies, I believe we are now perfectly placed to open up this new chapter in McLaren’s history as well as play a part in the regeneration of high-tech manufacturing in the UK and global automotive environment,” he concluded.

The MP4 will go on sale in 2011 with roughly 1000 units being made ensuring the new car is highly exclusive. The car is expected to cost  £160,000 ($265k).

GALLERY: McLaren MP4-12C

After a bit of a hiatus Ron Dennis, the man responsible for the legendary McLaren F1 and less spectacular McLaren SLR, is back at it. Today he introduced the world to his latest creation, the MP4-12C.

While not quite the full-blown supercar that the F1 was, the MP4 is a serious exotic, aimed squarely a the Ferrari 458 Italia. The powerplant is a twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8 engine that makes 600hp and 433 ft-lbs of torque. McLaren says the engine offers the highest horsepower to CO2 ratio of any engine on the market – including hybrids. No performance specs have yet been released but we expect a 0-60 mph time of around 3.5 seconds with a top speed in the 200 mph range.

The V8 engine is mated to a new 7-speed dual-clutch transmission that promises even faster gear changes than conventional systems thanks to the ability to let the driver pre-load a gear by half pressing the shift paddle, which will ready the transmission for the next gear.

What really separates the MP4 from cars like the 458 however is the use of a full-cabon monocoque chassis, rather than a weaker and heavier structure made of welded aluminum, steel, magnesium or other materials. This main chassis component weights just 176 lbs so we should expect the vehicle’s curb weight to be impressively low. 

“It is a long-held dream of mine to launch high performance sports cars that set new standards in the industry,” said Dennis. 

“We began designing and building cars for aficionados of thoroughbred sports cars almost 20 years ago. Incorporating the leading edge technologies that the McLaren Group has built up within its various companies, I believe we are now perfectly placed to open up this new chapter in McLaren’s history as well as play a part in the regeneration of high-tech manufacturing in the UK and global automotive environment,” he concluded.

The MP4 will go on sale in 2011 with roughly 1000 units being made ensuring the new car is highly exclusive. The car is expected to cost  £160,000 ($265k).

GALLERY: McLaren MP4-12C

Official release after the jump:

Tomorrow, Wednesday, September 9th, McLaren will unveil its next exotic, the MP4-12C. The name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but it has an historical significance, namely, that it has the name MP4 name as all of the McLaren race cars.

In an interview with the Times of London ahead of the vehicle’s debut creator Ron Dennis revealed that he intends to not only build the MP4-12C, but two other sports cars, one to compete with the Porsche 911 and another along the lines of the Porsche Carrera GT.

As for the MP4, Dennis says it will have a timeless design, with a high-revving V8 engine, a seven-speed gearbox and a light-weight carbon fiber chassis. Oh, and scissor doors will also be a part of the package. Other features include a variable rate suspension that stiffens up with speed, as well as a wireless connection that will allow you to download MP3s from your driveway.

While it’s not expected to be at the same level as the F1 supercar, this exotic, says Dennis will, “on all performance parameters and price… be better than our competition.” Dennis also said he intends to produce racing versions of the car to compete in motorsports.

McLaren Automotive, which recently emerged when Dennis left the McLaren Group F1 team, is funded by Dennis, the Swiss engineering company TAG and Mumtalakat, a private equity firm of the Bahrain government. The group has already spent £100,000,000 on the project and will announce shortly that it will quadruple that number of the coming years. “We’re building more than a car,” said Dennis. “We’re building a brand.”

[Source: Times Online]

With both Honda and BMW already announcing that they will not return to Formula 1 next year, now Mercedes’s involvement in the series has come into doubt. Helmut Lense, a member of the board for Mercedes’s parent company Daimler recently told a German newspaper that the company’s involvement in the world’s top level of motorsports is open for debate. “This discussion will surely continue to heat up in light of BMW’s withdrawal,” he told the Stuttgarter Nachrichten.

Lense has made no secret of where he sits on the issue and was quoted earlier this year, stating that Mercedes might get better use out of its money by dedicating its resources to other projects. He did not, however, specify what those projects might be.

After BMW made its decision to pull from the series after the 2009 season, Mercedes reiterated its commitment to F1. A spokesman for the company said that BMW’s decision, “does not have any influence on our Formula One engagement.”

Currently Mercedes supplies engines to the McLaren racing team as well as the Force India and Brawn GP teams.

[Source: F1-Live.com]

The Corvettes, Porsches and Vipers that compete in the SPEED World Challenge GT series are about to get some serious competition from a serious car – the Mercedes McLaren SLR 722 GT. The car was homolgated to World Challenge specs by The Racers Group (TRG) and our sources at the series tell us it will first see competition at the Autobahn County Club outside Chicago on July 24-26th.

Designed specifically to run it a spec series in Europe, the 722 GT is powered by a modified version of the supercharged 5.5-liter V8 and makes 680hp and 612 ft-lbs of torque. It also only weighs 3,200 lbs, meaning it can accelerate to 60 mph in just 3.3 seconds. Thanks to some serious aerodynamics and a significantly lowered ride height, the 722 GT is also capable of hitting 2 Gs in the corners.

No doubt the SCCA (the governing body for World Challenge) will level the playing field, forcing the SLR to either add weight or reduce horsepower… or probably both.

TRG Motorsports should still put on quite a show with the SLR as the team has plenty of racing experience, running cars in the Grand-Am Koni Challenge as well as in the Grand-Am Rolex Series. In 2005 and 2006 TRG competed with a Pontiac GTO.R team in the Grand-Am Rolex Series GT class, and has since been involved with a two-car Porsche effort in the GT Class.

See the Speed World Challenge series website for more info:

http://www.world-challenge.com/

Follow the jump for all the specs on the McLaren SLR 722 GT

[Source: TheRacersGroup]

AMG boss Volker Mornhinweg recently repeated what he said a year ago by declaring that the horsepower war was indeed over. The last time he said it the Mercedes tuning experts at RENNTECH countered by announcing a 695 hp package for the 65 Series cars. This time they’re making their point even stronger by releasing a 777hp version of the iconic SLR.

That’s right…. 777hp!

There is more of a story behind the RENNTECH 777 than that, however. The supercar has actually been planned for quite a while and is the first of several special edition vehicles RENNTECH will release in 2009 to celebrate the company’s 20th anniversary.

In order to get all that extra power – an addition of 160hp over the standard model – RENNTECH modified both the supercharger as well as the engine’s internals. Also key in the build was an upgraded cooling system.

With all that extra power RENNTECH engineers also reinforced the transmission and installed a new limited slip differential built by Japanese supplier OS Giken. The new diff can send up to 100 percent of the power to just one of the rear wheels – significantly improving the SLR’s cornering ability.

Most obvious, however, is the significantly redesigned exterior that looks considerably like the SLR 722 GT race car. RENNTECH designed the new aerodynamics using state-of-the-art CFD software – the same technology the company used to design the GLK Hybrid Rally Racerat the 2008 SEMA Show.

The RENNTECH 777 features a massive rear spoiler, a huge front splitter, a new hood and front bumper and even new side skirts that flow into significantly wider fenders.

In those fenders can be found a set of custom one-piece center-locking wheels.

RENNTECH founder Hartmut Feyhl had this to say about his latest creation: “It can be described as a street-legal track car, or something closer to what the enthusiasts were hoping for from the SLR, originally – which is more a successor to the McLaren F1.”

Feyhl also says that just 20 versions of the 777, (and of other 20th anniversary special editon models), will be built. “We intend to build a few different extreme vehicles like this for our 20th anniversary,” he says. “They are all very exciting projects, and we will be announcing them throughout the year, as they approach completion.”

Mark us down for a 666hp C63 Hartmut!

Official release after the jump: