Interesting approach from BMW and Mercedes to move to aggregate payments for the vehicle, insurance, etc. into one lump sum. This reduces the transaction friction for the customer, and could increase product turnover.
Source: The Verge
MB, Volvo and Google to Assume Liability for Autonomous Vehicle Accidents
Confidence score of 10 out of 10 by these three manufacturers. I would expect others to follow.
At the recent A Future with Self-Driving Cars—Is it Safe? seminar in Washington, D.C., Volvo CEO Håkan Samuelsson announced that Volvo will accept full liability whenever one if its cars is in autonomous mode. The pledge is particularly important as Volvo in 2017 will be loaning 100 XC90 SUVs designed to drive in full autonomous mode in certain sections of the Swedish city of Gothenburg to local families on a trial basis.
Two additional leaders in the development of autonomous cars, Mercedes-Benz and Google, in an interview with 60 Minutes have also said they’ll accept responsibility and liability for autonomous cars should an accident occur due to the technology.
Source: motorauthority.com
MB's AMG Team Readying a Porsche-killer Engine
Mercedes-Benz is prepping it's AMG unit to create Porsche-killers. Looks like getting their Black Ops F1 team to design their next AMG 4-cylinder engine continues their push...
Mercedes-AMG boss Tobias Moers has revealed to motoring.com.au that the next-generation replacement for the current 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder will be engineered in partnership with Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains, the same black ops engineers that have created the current state-of-the-art petrol hybrid V6 for the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 car.
Source: Motoring.com.au
2017 C-Class Coupe announced
2017 Mercedes-Benz C-Class
Lots of standard equipment...
"The C-Class Coupe features a wealth of equipment as standard, including LED headlights, PRE-SAFE®, KEYLESS START, Sport Suspension and a Panorama Sunroof. The Sport Appearance Package is available as an alternative to further underline the dynamism of the Coupe. It differs by virtue of exterior features such as special bumpers and sills featuring AMG bodystyling, a diamond radiator grille with pins in chrome and 18-inch AMG light-alloy wheels. Interior highlights of the Sport Package include exclusive touches such as a sports steering wheel with flattened bottom section and AMG sports pedals."
Source: http://media.mbusa.com/ (subscription required)
...but will it have a back-up camera standard? We just drove a loaner 2015 C-class, and were amazed that the standard model still does not include a back-up camera.