#GermanCars

A seemingly pointless video released on the official Mercedes-Benz YouTube channel might not be so irrelevant after all. The video features fashion critic Luke Leitch commenting on design and style… the suit making the man and all that.

There are plenty of shady shots and clips of materials being cut and sewn. Most are traditional Mercedes-Benz stuff and then, at the every end, there’s a quick shot (above) of some rather wild black Alcantara with neon green piling and stitching.

The video comes our way just ahead of an important date, the start of this year’s Avant/Garde Diaries event in Los Angeles, which according to Mercedes will host, “the artistic staging of the Mercedes-Benz Concept Style Coupe.” Presumably, that coupe is the baby CLS, known as the Mercedes CLA (or CLC). And possibly (yes, we’re working with a lot of assumptions here), that black and neon interior is that of the CLA/CLC.

With the event set to begin April 20th and run until May 6th, look for a reveal of something provocatively new from Mercedes soon.

While rumors have swirled around this business venture, it is now out that Audi has agreed to buy Italian motorcycle giant Ducati for €860 million Euros, or about $1.12 Billion. 

Over the winter our photogaphers captured several spy photos of an Audi RS6 mule testing in the European North. Now that Spring has returned, the RS6 is testing the limits of adhesion on a different surface – the Nurburgring.

This Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix race weekend enjoyed many firsts. Mercedes GP driver Nico Rosberg scored his maiden Formula 1 pole position and succeeded in taking the momentum from his strong qualifying performance over to race day, earning his first ever F1 GP victory.

Luxury styling, AMG performance and compact car sensibility will all be rolled into one package as the Mercedes-Benz A25 AMG, something that has the breadth of enthusiasts excited. Rumored to be in the works, these spy photos are the first confirmation that such a car is being prepped for launch.

A Formula 1 steering wheel, a tiny carbon fiber control panel that places every electronically adjustable parameter of a Formula 1 race car into the palm of the driver’s hands, can cost $50,000 alone. With more buttons, toggle switches, dials, and switches than a tournament-spec Streetfighter fighting-stick gamepad, racing drivers must push their cars as hard as possible, handle the physical strains from high loads of G-force, while delicately managing all the vehicle vitals and settings on the button array.

To the unfamiliar, the dizzying control layout may seem excessive, but Mercedes GP and 7-time World Champion Michael Schumacher share a guided tour of the steering wheel to help racing fans understand what’s what.

Starting with its main function of steering the vehicle left and right, Schumacher gets into identifying the boost button for the car’s Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), the neutral and speed limiter button for coming into the pit-lane, a button that alerts the team for an unscheduled entry into the pits, a safety car button, a reverse button, brake balance check and clutch check buttons, toggles for the clutch, fuel mixture, engine management, differential adjustment, and wheel diameter adjustment. Finally, a main menu toggle switch and a multitude of ‘menu’ option buttons handle the rest. In the event the buttons and switches on the wheel fail to respond, a ‘reset’ button is available as well.

Check out Schumacher’s video below to find out more:

In celebration of the most powerful performance car it’s ever sold in the U.S., the 2012 Golf R, Volkswagen is launching a fan contest to reward one lucky enthusiast. 

“The Golf R has an incredibly loyal following of fans, and this is a way for Volkswagen to say ‘thank you’ for their passion and enthusiasm,” said Jonathan Browning, President and CEO of the Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. “We are delighted to reward one lucky Golf R fan with the ultimate enthusiast travel experience, including an adrenaline-pumping driving experience on a legendary track.”

It is a known fact that boats are not designed to travel on land, and cars are not very capable in the water. But with the summer approaching and a vast number of cottages available for rent by lakes, it would be ideal to have a combination of the two.

Mercedes-Benz cars can already navigate through traffic without driver input, the infotainment systems can be controlled by uttering a sentence and the seats will even massage your back for you, but how about a car that keeps you physically fit, and mentally rested?

After announcing the new second-generation Cayenne GTS yesterday, Porsche has now released a flood of photos for its high-performance luxury sport ute.

Global automotive juggernaut Volkswagen is about to grow a little larger with rumors that it’s luxury car division Audi will announce a takeover of an iconic Italian brand next week. What makes this acquisition unique, however, is that the new company isn’t the four-wheel kind, preferring instead performance on two wheels.

Ever vigilant, our sleuthing photographers caught spy photos of the new BMW 4 Series convertible tucking its top away.

Finally it’s been confirmed — Mercedes-Benz will build a G65 AMG, although the beast of an SUV won’t be coming to the U.S.

Mercedes has once again updated its timeless G-Class model, adding a new high-performance G63 version to the lineup.

Mid way through its product cycle the 2013 GLK has received a nip-tuck from the styling department at Mercedes-Benz. It has also receive one very major change.