Mercedes-Benz Thailand Magazine 3/2013 (Eng)

Issue 03·2013

Mercedes-Benz

mercedes-benz.com

issn

1617–6677

03·2013

Pure Energy Through the Alps with the SLS Electric Drive

Warsaw The art of suspension 9G-Tronic

driving force How Toto Wolff is planning out the F1 team’s success

Sporting pleasure The GLA – a Mercedes-Benz like none before

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Herecomesutopia

t h o s e m o m e n t s when the future

appears to melt into the present and pipe dreams turn into reality, stealing our breath in the process, are no longer so few and far between. Electric mobility can take some of the credit, and Mercedes-Benz has done much in recent years to bring the faintly fantastic, almost absurd image of batterypowered cars from the imagination to the road. It only takes a glimpse of the SLS Electric Drive (page 48) – or a stint behind the wheel, should you get the chance – to realize that all those hasty preconceptions about driving sans combustion engine were indeed wide of the mark. There is certainly nothing bland about electric mobility; it offers a dimension in driving fun undreamed-of in our previous lives. The future is upon us, and it’s really rather electric.

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phOTOS Ralph Richter, Christian Kerber, Levon Biss/Contour by getty Images, Daniel Infanger, Dirk Lindner Illustration 500 GLS

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Mobility and innovation: intelligent headlights, Car-to-X, solar socket

Blogs and social networks: the best from and about Mercedes-Benz

A maiden drive in the world’s most powerful electric super-sports car: the SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive

Sharing luxurious items with others is one luxury one should indulge in

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Mercedes-Benz Motorsport chief Toto Wolff on his passion for Formula 1 and the targets he has lined up

Enduring legend: the fascination with the SL 300 that began in the early 1950s continues unabated to this day

Alexandra and Georg test-drive the SLK 350 in Amsterdam

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Temperature: Why it can be crucial to stay cool

The 9G-Tronic automatic transmission successfully marries driving fun and efficiency

Design, art and fashion: light artist in L. A., precious insects, bookish holiday in Koh Samui

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Yasuaki Onishi magics an airy artwork out of a CLA and plastic sheeting

A visit to arguably the most creative metropolis in the East: Warsaw

Check-in

Bountiful harvest

Volt from the blue

P.S.

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Masterpiece As sporty as a coupe, as powerful as an SUV: the GLA is in a class of its own – and raring for adventure 0 24

Flying trains The Clip-Air concept is intended to make freight cars airborne in the future – thanks to “clip-on” wings 0 26

Perfection in motion How top athletes train for years to hone their running technique, golf swing or tumble turn

Taking it to the max

All change

A breath of mobility

High flier

Emotion

Welcome to Wow-saw

He says, she says

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Icons

003 Intro 07 8 f y i Technical specifications 07 9 p u b l icati o n d etai l s 0 8 0 M o me n ts 5

i n n o v a t i o n s

Bright idea

d r i v i n g a f t e r d a r k has just become safer. With Mercedes’ Active Multibeam LED system, the headlights react instantly to various traffic situations. Innovative technology controls individual LEDs, enabling specific parts of the road ahead to be lit up. A computer linked to a camera calculates the optimum lighting configuration 100 times a second and adjusts the degree of illumination, even controlling the right and left headlights separately. Multibeam LED is due to be launched next year, but innovative lighting is a Mercedes-Benz tradition that goes back much further – the first Benz automobiles were equipped with dipping electric headlights in 1915. And the S-Class was the first production automobile in the world to exclusively use energy-saving LEDs. da i m ler . com

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C h e c k - i n

Networkingtheautomobile

Clean air act

Dr. Christian Weiß and his team are responsible for developing car-to-car communications at Daimler, linking them up to each other and to the infra­structure. This enables them, for example, to exchange traffic information.

THE FA Ç ADE of this building acts as an air filter. Interlinking modules from Elegant Embellishments are attached to the front of the building and a special titanium oxide layer uses the sun’s rays to neutralize environmentally damaging gases, cleaning up the city air.

photos Daimler AG (2); Alejandro Cartagena/elegantembellishment; K yuho Song + Boa Oh /Yankodesign; Illustration Lyndon Hayes/Dutchuncle

elega ntem bellish m ents . n et

What is the advantage of Car-to-X? Vehicles can use this technology to warn each other of tailbacks, accidents, severe weather or wrong-way drivers.

With this information, the vehicle is always just ahead of the game.

How many vehicles would need to be equipped with Car-to-X for the system to work?

At five percent of all vehicles, congestion information functions pretty reliably; for intersection assistance – information on changing traffic lights – you would need a lot more. But there are advantages even if there are no other vehicles nearby: roadworks can have mobile transmitters that identify their location; or a driver can be told well in advance what speed will get him through the next green light.

So are tailbacks soon going to be a thing of the past?

Ideally there will be fewer of them.

We want to ensure that people make optimum use of the roads. But when their capacity is exhausted, then even this technology will reach its limits.

Can Mercedes-Benz drivers already benefit from the system?

The Digital DriveStyle app already enables Car-to-X to warn drivers of accidents, breakdowns and severe weather. And a Mercedes driver can also use the manual notification function to warn others of hazards.

AUTOMOTIVE

D I C TIONARY

na|no|slide technology, noun; a technology designed to reduce engine weight, consumption and CO2 emissions. Used, for example, in the new V-6 gasoline engine for the current E-Class. The cylinder walls are finely coated with an iron-carbon alloy that reduces friction and increases resistance to wear.

e n e r g y

Solarelectricalsocket i t i s a n i d e a that is as simple as it is brilliant – an electrical socket that supplies power from a solar panel at its rear. The energy generated is currently sufficient to recharge a smartphone, but its Korean developers Kyuho Song and Boa Oh are already working on increasing the capacity of the “Window Socket”. It comes with a suction cup for attachment to any window at home or abroad. ya n kodesign . com

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a pp D a t e

Downloads for travelers w i t h W a k e A l a r m , you can no longer just

hit the snooze button and dream on. The app only switches off if you give your smartphone a vigorous shake – and by that time you’ll be wide awake!

Scorecleaner records songs and transforms the melody into musical notation.

ForeverMap 2 is a global map with travel guide and route display that can also be used offline.

Instamatch creates a card-matching game from all the photos stored on Instagram.

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t h at ’ s t h e w e i g h t of the RoboBee (0.0028 oz), the first ever robotic fly. It is two centimeters (0.79 inches) long and its wings beat 120 times per second. Weighing about the same as a real fly, it is capable of hovering in one place and can carry out complex maneuvers. The wings of the tiny robot are operated by piezoelectric actuators – tiny ceramic strips that expand and contract when electrical current is passed through them. Developed by researchers at Harvard University, the diminutive insect could one day be used for traffic surveillance or perhaps for pollinating flowers.

4 4° ′ 4 ' ′ 4 7, 7 ' ' ′ N , ′ 3 ° ′ 1 ' ′ 2 0 , 6 ' ' ′ O

Clermont-Ferrand Montpellier

France Clermont Ferrand

from to

d i s ta n c e 332 kilometers (206 miles) d u r at i o n 3 hours h i g h e s t p o i n t 270 meters (886 ft)

i f y o u f a n c y a journey through the clouds, you should

try driving from Clermont-Ferrand to Montpellier in southern France. The route takes you across the Millau Viaduct – the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world at 2,460 meters (8,071 ft) – which towers above the valley of the River Tarn at a height of 270 meters (890 ft) and forms part of the A75 highway, the shortest route between Paris and Barcelona. The toll bridge was designed by French engineer Michel Virlogeux together with British architect Norman Foster. The highest pylon rises to no less than 343 meters (1,125 ft) – that’s 19 meters (62 ft) higher than the Eiffel Tower. lev i a ducdem i ll au . com

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Viaduc de Millau

montpellier

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HOW IS IT DONE? In a submarine – after all, the Titanic lies at a depth of 3,800 meters (12,500 ft).

Two-week excursions for a maximum of 20 people set off from Newfoundland several times a year.

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l i f e t i m e . . .

what are the requirements?

Participants must be capable of spending 11 to 12 hours in a capsule deep under the surface of the ocean.

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where can one book?

Expeditions for 2014 in submarines MIR I and II are being offered by event agency thebluefish.com.

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Apps APP Store by Apple for iphone, ipod touch and ipad; photos DDP images; Actionpress; L aif; “L aservision - Creators of the Softstop Barrier System”

… Diving down to the Titanic “Physical experiences are much more impressive than intellectual ones.

For example, coldness isn’t something you can explain – but you can feel it.”

c u r r e n t l y

p l a y i n g . . .

more than 60 years

Solo by William Boyd

ólafur elíasson, artist

after the publication of the first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, 007 will be back in action in October. His mission begins in Africa, but an unexpected event prompts Bond to set off on a solo mission to America without warning or prior authorization. British author William Boyd is reviving Ian Fleming’s original Bond – not as a smooth superspy, but rather as a human being complete with feelings and failings. a m a zon . com

s a f e t y

Wet warning the Sydney Harbor tunnel has suffered frequent damage by truck drivers who failed to notice warning signs. It prompted the company Laservision to develop a massive STOP sign made of water. In an emergency, a fine curtain of droplets appears within seconds, and the warning is projected onto it. Impossible to miss. l aserv ision . com . au

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Original and fake TH I S FUTUR I ST I C vision in the form of the C 111-II concept car

was first unveiled in 1970. The gullwing vehicle in a bright orange “Weißherbst” finish was powered by a 257 kW (350 hp) four-rotor Wankel engine and accelerated from standstill to 100 km/h (62 mph) in a mere 4.8 seconds. But which of the two cars shown here is the original?

FOUR MISTAKES can be found in this picture: one headlamp is missing, as are the fuel filler cap, the passenger door handle and the air intake in front of the right-hand rear wheel.

capacity

max. 10,000 people total area

14,000 m2 2,900 m2

m ba n df. com

Noah’s Ark 2.0 a n o a s i s with room for up to 10,000 people is the latest solution from Russian ar-

chitect Alexander Remizov for a worst-case scenario in which climate change triggers extreme weather conditions. “The Ark” has a total area of 150,00 sq. ft with 31,200 sq. ft of floor space and can float on water or be installed on dry land. The futuristic construction of wood, steel cables and a robust outer skin can withstand earthquakes and storms. With a central column housing wind generators and heat pumps and the roof carrying solar panels, the structure has its own independent energy supply. In an emergency, this Noah’s Ark could be assembled within a few months. r em istu dio . ru 10

photos daimler AG, Fotolia , MANDF; rendering: Remistudio

space sounds This music box in the form of a space vehicle plays six melodies ranging from John Lennon’s “Imagine” to the “Imperial March” from Star Wars Episode V. A galactic idea.

floor space

Wild thing

Nottobemissed!

p l e n t y o f CA r b o n ,

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L i e g e - R om e - L i e g e

a crisp gear change and two (accelerator) pedals make this fully-sprung mountain bike immediately recognizable as hailing from the AMG stable. Like the highperformance engines from Affalterbach, the frame of the RT x45 AMG is handbuilt – in this case by German bike specialists Rotwild.

First held in 1927, this rally was regarded as one of the toughest in the world.

Intrepid drivers used to cover the 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles) non-stop. Now the event involves classic cars – and is taken at a much more leisurely pace.

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Tar g a F lor i o C lass i c

In 1955, Stirling Moss and Peter Collins won the world’s most famous automobile race in a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR. Today, classic cars speed through the spectacular Sicilian landscape in the wake of Moss and other racing legends.

m ercedes - a mg . com

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D T M f i nal

switchbacks In Tracks 6:11, photographer Stefan Bogner shows us the North Loop of the Nürburgring from an unusual perspective. . deli us k l asi ng de

Nearly there t h e d r e a m of taking part in a Formula 1 race has now come closer to becoming a reality, thanks

to this race simulator developed by event company FMCG International. The driver settles into a fullsize carbon body with Pirelli F1 tires and an original F1 steering wheel to watch three 23-inch LCD screens that simulate the view from the cockpit. Authentic sound is provided by a 5.1 loudspeaker system. The cost includes installation and training, and you can choose the color of the bodywork.

The final event in the Touring Car Championship at the Hockenheimring promises to be another nailbiting occasion. Last year saw Mercedes driver Gary Paffett come close to winning the championship, but he ultimately ended up in second place.

N O V E M B E R 1– 3 , 2 013

L ondon to B r i g h ton

The oldest celebration of the automobile was first organized in 1896. This year, more than 500 classic cars will take part in the Veteran Car Run, driving the 60 miles from Hyde Park to the south coast seaside resort. Last year one of the cars representing Daimler was an 1894 Benz Victoria.

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F orm u la 1 A b u D h ab i

The outlook is good: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has already won the desert race in the past, and has also recorded several best practice times.

Titanic dives, Noah’s Ark 2.0 or Bond audio book: we have put together information on these Check-in topics online for you. Simply use your smartphone app to scan the QR code.

mb - qr . com /0 ce

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phOTOS daimler AG, Delius Klasing (2), Costco.UK

fmcgi nter nationa l . com

Flying trains

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IS THIS the future of air travel?

Clip-Air is the name of this new idea, which enables trains to take to the skies. The idea is not just to change air travel but to revolutionize the railroad system as well.

t h e i n s p i r at i o n Like the Clip-Air concept, the Boeing X-48 experimental airplane consists of a single huge wing – albeit with a normal passenger cabin. The design reduces noise and cuts fuel consumption. A smaller, unmanned prototype has already undergone extensive test flights. If the aircraft is ever built, it will have a wingspan of 70 meters (230 ft).

BO e IN G X - 4 8 B

air bus a320

3 economy With its three engines, the Clip-Air jet can transport the same number of passengers as three Airbus 320s with their total of six engines – promising considerable fuel savings and cutting operating costs by ten percent.

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rom Berlin main train station to Majorca without changing or leaving your seat once – one day this could be reality. Clip-Air is a concept developed by Swiss scientists that combines an aircraft with a train. It involves securely attaching up to three trains to the underside of a massive modular airplane. The giant wing would house only the cockpit, engines and fuel tanks. “It has the potential not only to change air travel but also to revolutionize our idea of what mobility involves,” explains Claudio Leonardi of the Swiss Technical University in Lausanne, who developed the concept together with his team. “It would enable airplanes to bring passengers straight to city centers or industrial areas.” On landing, the plane would unlatch the trains and these would then continue to their destination on the railroad track. The train compartments could have varying interiors – one could serve as Business Class and the one next to it could transport containers.

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THE COMPETITION The popular Airbus A320 can carry about 150 passengers. By comparison, the Clip-Air, with up to 450 passengers, would have around three times as much space for people and/or freight.

This could significantly reduce the number of airplanes taking to the skies. A ­further advantage of the Clip-Air is safety – sources of ­danger like the engines and fuel tanks are clearly separated from the passenger cabins.

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project clip - air

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photo Getty Images Illustrations EPFL/LIV/ICOM/TRANSPOR/Clip Air

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s tat s The Clip-Air can fly some 400 km (250 miles) and has room for three train “cabins”, each with 150 seats. The capsules are 4 meters (just over 13 ft) in diameter – the size of an Airbus 320 – and 30 meters (98.4 ft) long, around the same length as a typical railroad car.

However, most trains are only around 3 meters (just under 10 ft) wide, which means the ClipAir cars would not fit through many tunnels and train stations. ­ 25

SPRINTERS, GOLFERS AND SWIMMERS train for years with a single objective: to optimize their running technique, golf swing or tumble turn – for defeat or victory is often decided by the tiniest detail.

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photos Levon Biss/Contour By Get t y Images

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p e r f e c t a r t FORERUNNER Usain Bolt has changed the world of sprinting with his running technique. words a n n a b e l d i ll i g

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b u b b le b at h Swimmers hone their body position in specially-designed flow chambers to reduce resistance through the water.

Twitching muscle fibers Volker Herrmann from the German Sport University in Cologne is one such researcher studying the secrets of perfect action. “Usain Bolt’s running style confirms something the science world has been putting about for some time,” the biomechanics expert explains. He has switched from the “push” technique that was common in the 1980s to a “pull” approach, meaning that most of the work is done in front of the body’s center of 28

“ T HERE’S A SAYING among track athletes: anyone can become a marathon runner, but you are born a sprinter.” gravity rather than behind it. This action requires the athlete to quickly pull the knee back and under, and the foot strike is landed just in front of the hip. “It enables the runner to reduce braking forces on the body,” says Herrmann. This new style of running can better exploit the potential of the posterior thigh muscles.

But the perfect running action is worthless unless it is combined with a sprinter’s physique. In the athletics community there is a commonly held belief: “Anyone can become a marathon runner, but you are born a sprinter.” The necessary physiological attributes include high tendon stiffness for optimum power transmission from the muscle, the correct leg length for optimum leverage and the right proportion of white, fast-twitch muscle fibers in the body.

Through personalized training programs, athletes can activate residual potential in these inherited predispositions. Of the 15 sprinters in Volker Herrmann’s training group, 13 have personalized training schedules which take into account individual strengths and weaknesses. All are striving for the perfect action – in common with scientists and athletes in other disciplines.

A few years ago, U.S. individual medley swimmers succeeded in shaving off one or two tenths of a second at the transition from backstroke to breaststroke by spinning in an almost sideways position, thereby reducing the angle and distance of travel > to make the turn – an extreme but legal inter-

photos DPA Picture Alliance, Contour/Get t y Images

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sain Bolt bursts out of his starting blocks – the movement is more horizontal than vertical. From here to the finish line he takes just 41 strides.

As he accelerates, he eats up the ground like a wildcat on the chase, each foot kissing the track every two and a half meters. At around 45 meters, having reached maximum velocity, he appears to be in flight. And he is able to sustain that for longer than any of his rivals. 9.58 seconds for 100 meters – the Jamaican has created a new world record.

Can something as fundamental and primal as running actually be improved? Is there a perfect way to put one foot in front of the other? For decades the world’s scientists, coaches and athletes have been trying to find answers to such questions. In laboratories and on athletics tracks they have introduced high-tech equipment and a painstaking methodology to optimize the sequence of biomechanical movements which – like walking – have evolved over millions of years. And often even the smallest of factors can make all the difference. For in disciplines like the 100 meters, fame and wealth are decided by mere hundredths of a second. Anyone who, like Usain Bolt, sets a new world sprint record has secured his place in the history books.

S p o r t s

flig h t test It takes around 500 practice dives to master a new sequence of movements.

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swingtime In the golf swing, the brain has to coordinate around 130 muscles.

Below: Image sequence analysis is used to study biomechanical movements.

“ OF THE 72 SHOTS IT TAKES to complete an average round of golf, there are at most two or three I would describe as almost perfect.” bernd ritthammer

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ing it requires the coordination of many different muscle groups simultaneously.

Board and platform divers frequently require some 500 practice dives to learn a new sequence of movements, first on the trampoline, then in the foam pit and finally in the pool, where the water’s surface is “softened” by adding air bubbles to reduce the impact on the body.

Tricking the brain When asked about the perfect golf swing, Nuremberg-born golf pro Bernd Ritthammer simply puffs out his cheeks and exhales. The gesture has nothing to do with the 30°C (86°F) heat that greets us at the Golfclub München-Eichenried. “Of the 72 shots it takes to complete an average round of golf, there are at most two or three I would describe as almost perfect.”

photos Get t y Images, Gallery Stock

pretation of the rules. This meant that training involved the swimmer having to learn to rotate more quickly about the body’s lateral axis.

In the 1970s, climbers in Yosemite National Park started training their sense of balance by practicing on a slackline, a rope slung just above the ground between two posts. The idea was quickly adopted by many other sports. For climbers this training makes a lot of sense, since like real climb-

The golf swing involves around 130 muscles simultaneously and is considered one of the most complex biomechanical movements in sport.

Ritthammer is 26 and has been playing golf since the age of three. How can you still perfect an action you have practiced hundreds of thousands of times over so many years? And even if your head knows what the perfect action looks like, how do you get your body to execute it?

This very question is the research focus of biomechanics expert Peter Lamb from Munich’s Technical University. Here in his laboratory, the Canadian golfer attaches sensors to golfers’ bodies and maps the arc traced by their swing. The players receive feedback even as they execute the movement: if the golf club is not taken back far enough above the shoulder, they hear an acoustic signal.

“This enables the golfer to get used to recognizing what the correct movement should feel like.

The brain then remembers this body position,” Lamb explains.

As references for his research, Lamb has collected swing analyses from hundreds of golfers, half of them PGA professionals. “This statistic is my approximation to perfection.” The quest for the perfect golf swing is never-ending – as every player knows. “A single successful golf shot is all it takes to get you hooked and ensure you come back for more.”

Bernd Ritthammer prefers to solve his problems out on the golf course rather than in the laboratory. “Your hip is coming through too quickly, too abruptly,” is the expert’s diagnosis. It is the age-old problem: the coach explains what needs changing, the sportsman nods – and then carries on virtually as before. So Ritthammer attempts to modify technique through exaggeration, minimizing all rotation of the hips on the downswing.

In the heat of the driving range, he stands there hitting ball after ball. They fizz through the air, flying 150 yards, 200 yards. Ritthammer looks satisfied enough.

But he has another favorite trick: “I imagine the ball’s trajectory if I were to rotate my hips more slowly – and then try to strike the ball exactly like this.” Sometimes you just have to dupe > the brain.

Bountiful harvest network Mercedes-Benz: six digital autumn destinations in the Internet jungle.

CL ASSICS UP CLOSE Around 7,000 shots of tailfins, Silver Arrows and other auto legends make up the Flickr photo stream by Mercedes-Benz. The images are sorted into albums and frequently stem from vintage rallies such as the Mille Miglia. flickr . com / mb _ museum

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illustration Mathis Rekowski photos Daimler Ag

FORMUL A 1 CHANNEL What do Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg make of the race? What high-tech is in the steering wheel?

What goes on at Brackley? Mercedes AMG Petronas offers a glimpse behind the scenes on YouTube. youtube.com /mercedesamgpetronas

d i g i t a l

RADIO STATION WITH A STAR You can listen to the new Mercedes-Benz radio not only in the car but worldwide on the Web and by app. The English-language station serves upbeat music, exciting interviews and news from the world. mercedes - benz .com /radio

zine Online Maga dels, rrent and future mo cu on tes da up ily Da rts spo tor mo the and technical innovations provided are z en s-B de rce Me activities of h-language online by independent Englis nz.com. The lifebe magazine emercedes- new watches, s ase wc sho n lum style co s, fashion and other sports gadgets, hotel . le extra spice to life things that add a litt m nz . co em er ce de sbe

TWITTER NEWS Mercedes-Benz’ international Twitter account posts the latest news on everything to do with the brand – sometimes at more than hourly frequencies. The bandwidth of these information snippets ranges from first shots of new models to motorsports results, all the way to the hammer prices at spectacular vintage car auctions. twitter . com / mercedesbenz use a QR App to access all the digital offerings from your smartphone too.

WE B SPECI A L G L A Designed for PCs, tablets and smartphones, Webspecial presents the highlights of the new GLA in an emotion-laced format. The spotlight turns on such spects as its coupe-like design, SUV styling elements and off-road functions, as well as safety and entertainment. mercedes - benz . com / gla

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The Silver Arrows ever, and Toto Wo teamallthewayto 34

w o r d s t o b i a s m o o r s t e dt

photos dirk lindner

s p o r t s

s are quicker than olf f aims to take his o the F1 world title.

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toto wolff was appointed Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport at the start of the season and has since overseen considerable change. The management offices at the Brackley HQ of the F1 team are being transformed into open-plan areas. “We spend most of the day running around anyway,” says the Austrian.

“There will always be a laptop space available.”

T I M E TO MINGLE Toto Wolff with Ross Brawn (left) and F1 team owner Frank Williams (right).

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DR I V E RS ’ M E E T I N G The Mercedes-Benz Motorsport chief with Lewis Hamilton, enjoying his first season in a Mercedes cockpit.

Mr. Wolff, as Head of Mercedes-Benz Motor­s port is it an advantage to have driven in 24-hour races yourself?

It cuts both ways, I think. It means I have a basic understanding of the subject matter and I know one end of a racing car from the other. But you can’t compare the level I raced at with Formula 1. I certainly won’t be tempted to give our engineers and drivers any kind of technical input – that would be a fatal mistake. I’m responsible purely for management matters here and have a great deal of respect for the expertise already within the team.

s p o r t s

Are Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton aware of your past life as a racing driver?

Formula 1 racing drivers are in a league of their own; they are the crème-de-la-crème of their sport. Before the GP at the Nürburgring I got a bit excited and showed Lewis a video of one of my races. “Respect. I didn’t know that about you,” he said. Of course the recognition was briefly flattering, but I won’t be getting carried away!

Do you ever wish you could drive a few laps in the Mercedes F1 W04?

Me in an F1 car? That would be embarrassing.

photos DPA Picture Alliance (2), Imago Sportfoto, Dirk Lindner

Political commentators like to give their initial verdict on a new government after its first 100 days in power. With over 100 days of the 2013 World Championship gone, how do you assess the season so far?

I’d like to say how much pleasure my new job gives me. I look forward every day to working with the team in the office and at the track.

And our results have obviously made that easier. We’ve won two of the sport’s most historic races – at Silverstone and Monaco – and collected more points after nine races than over the whole of the last season. However, we’re not yet where we want to be. The six pole positions Nico and Lewis have racked up show that we have built an extremely quick car – perhaps even the best-performing “genuine” Silver Arrow of the modern era. But unfortunately we’re not always able to fulfill our potential out on the track when it comes to race day. We’re on an upward trajectory, but there’s still a bit of the underdog about us. Our aim is to achieve sustained success as a Formula 1 team – not only to take the odd victory here and there, but to be among the top teams year in, year out and be in the running for the World Championship…

our aim is to achieve sustained success as a Formula 1 team and be in the running to win the World Championship.

with big promises and a big fanfare, and employed a thousand people, but they were gone again after a relatively short time. Ross Brawn led his team in a very entrepreneurial way and with a workforce half the size. Now Mercedes has taken over – and we’re here to say.

How do you go about embedding the Mercedes philosophy in Brackley?

Our priority is success on the track. But it goes without saying that the team’s performance should also be viewed as the achievement and success of the parent company. The F1 team is part of a huge global concern with over a hundred thousand employees and a great motor racing heritage; they’re all placing their trust in us and we don’t want to let > them down.

We’re in mid-conversation when Toto Wolff jumps up and heads over to the window.

“Look at that,” he murmurs to himself. A member of the team has just pulled up in their car – and it’s not a Mercedes. He ponders for a moment and says, “All members of the team should drive home every day proud of the fact that they work for Mercedes.”

The team’s F1 base here in Brackley has a successful but also very varied past. Your employees have worked under various brands over recent years – BAR, Honda, Brawn and now Mercedes…

Yes, the team has gone through many different phases. BAR and Honda arrived

PR E S E N T A N D C ORR E C T Wolff made the decision to move to England so he could lead the team from its Brackley headquarters.

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In the late 1990s you were a heavy investor in internet start-up companies. Are there any parallels between the technology sector and F1? Start-ups tend to work according to the principle of “permanent beta”.

It’s a good approach. Permanent beta describes a company that is constantly changing and striving for ever increasing levels of perfection. Permanent beta also means never being satisfied. Winning at Silverstone is very pleasing. But an hour after the race I’m already thinking about the next grand prix.

WINNING SMILE Wolff congratulates Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg on his Monaco win.

m i l e st o n e s 1972 Christian “Toto” Wolff is born in Vienna, Austria.

His mother is a doctor, his father dies when Toto is still a teenager.

19 92 At the age of 20, Wolff lines up in the German and Austrian Formula Ford race series. In 1994 he wins his class in the Nürburgring 24-hour race, but then puts his career on hold after the withdrawal of a sponsor.

19 98 He founds the companies Marchfifteen and Marchsixteen Investments and makes successful investments in booming internet and technology firms.

20 0 6 He takes victory in the Dubai 24-hour race and finishes runner-up in the Austrian Rally Championship. Joins HWA AG (the company that builds Mercedes-AMG’s DTM cars), where he becomes a member of the Supervisory Board.

20 0 9 Wolff acquires a 15 % stake in the Williams F1 team.

2011 In October he marries Scottish DTM driver Susie Stoddart.

2 013 On January 21, Wolff succeeds Norbert Haug as Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport.

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Fans complain that the rules are getting too complicated and wheel-to-wheel racing is being pushed into the background.

Four or five years ago there were races where we only saw one or two overtaking maneuvers. The cars had become so aerodynamically efficient it was almost impossible to pass a car from your opponent’s slipstream. Since the introduction of the KERS energy recovery system and various types of tire, strategy has played a very different role and we’re enjoying some exciting racing again. We have to be careful to strike the right balance of technical

photos Imago Sportfoto, Corbis (2), API

A team exists in various time phases – the current season, the following year and the more distant future. Doesn’t that breed a kind of “productive schizophrenia”?

That’s an interesting phrase if it means you always have to be alert, on the verge of paranoia, making sure you’re quicker and more intelligent than your rivals. But maybe it’s a little too philosophical. In reality we’re running several projects alongside one another.

We’re still working on the 2013 car, development for the 2014 season is in full swing and we’re also turning our minds to the year after that. Gradually, all the departments start to focus on the future: first the designers, then R&D, the simulations experts, the aerodynamics team... The final group of people to retrain their sights on the new car is the race team.

In the 2014 season the cars will have sixcylinder engines as part of a hybrid drive system, and fuel loads will be limited. How much will this change the racing?

We’ll be driving with 30 percent less fuel on board, and hybrid drive and the new turbo concept present us with a major technical challenge. What’s certain, though, is that this will see us trying out ideas that will find their way into series-produced road cars sooner or later. After all, one reason why F1 is the world’s most celebrated race series is because it offers fans the most technologically sophisticated product and by virtue of that appeals to their imagination.

s p o r t s

F A ST L O V E Toto Wolff has been married to racing driver and Formula 1 test driver Susie Stoddart for almost two years.

i hope very much that we will see female drivers in Formula 1 in the years to come. There are no biomechanical reasons why women shouldn’t perform just as well as men.

Team w o r k Daimler boss Dr. Dieter Zetsche and Toto Wolff are aiming to grasp success with both hands.

innovation, spectacular racing and transparency for the spectators.

Your wife Susie is a test driver for Williams. Will female drivers appear more often in F1 and the DTM in the future?

I really hope so. There are no biomechanical reasons why women shouldn’t perform just as well as men out on the race track. But unfortunately there isn’t a broad enough base of female drivers. In F1 there’s not a single woman on the grid. If more girls and young women develop an interest in racing, I’m sure we’ll soon see female drivers in F1 as well.

Do you ever challenge Susie to a race?

We sometimes race each other in karts and I admit on one occasion I secretly added 25 kilograms of ballast to Susie’s kart. But the more I try to pull a fast one, the slower I get. > In a nutshell, Susie’s quicker.

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All change

WITH NINE FORWARD SPEEDS, the new automatic transmission from Mercedes-Benz raises the bar once more on driving enjoyment and efficiency. The perks of the 9G-Tronic include smooth, lightning-quick gear changes and improved fuel economy.

4

3

he 7G-Tronic seven-speed automatic transmission long since laid to rest the pre­ judice that fun is only to be had with a manual transmission. Now the latest evolution is ready to enter the fray. The aptly named 9G-Tronic, making its world debut in the E 350 BlueTec, boasts nine forward and two reverse speeds as well as a choice of Manual, Economy and Sport modes. In Manual mode, gear changes are carried out by the driver, using the steering-wheel shift paddles. Alternatively, the driver can select Economy or Sport modes and hand over to the intelligent control ­logic.

While the gear changes are barely perceptible, the big savings at the pump are sure to grab the driver’s attention. The new automatic trans­ mission shaves up to 6.5 % off fuel bills.

T

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inn o v ati o n

1 2

1 PIONEERING Nine forward and two reverse speeds – virtually all Mercedes-Benz model series will get this new technology over the coming years.

2 FlexibLE The transmission offers three different modes: Economy keeps the rpm low, while Sport mode delays upshifts. In Manual mode, it’s the driver who calls the shots.

IlLustration 500GLS

3 D y na m i C The gear-skipping multiple downshift capability is an enormous advantage in terms of agility and fast mid-range acceleration.

4 LIGHT The 9G-Tronic has a torque capacity of 1,000 Newton meters (737 lb-ft). Despite the two additional ratios, the magnesium alloy casing and plastic sump make the new unit lighter than its predecessor.

ECONOMICAL The large ratio spread has major benefits for efficiency. The new 9G-Tronic transmission also supports Eco start/stop, which switches the engine off at traffic lights or in stationary traffic.

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S u s p e nde d a nim at i on: Japanese artist Yasuaki Onishi created a weightless

A breath of mobility

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words ulrike stierle

p h o t o s b j รถ r n f i s c h e r , m at t h i a s s t r a u b

c h a r a c t e r S

sculpture using the Mercedes-Benz CLA.

shaping air A plastic sheet assumes the contours of the CLA, seemingly suspended from threads of black glue.

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Glue artist Yasuaki Onishi (left) creates sculptures out of air and glue.

ghost rider The plastic sheet catches the ambient light, creating an ethereal, ghostly effect.

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c h a r a c t e r S

Further technical specifications and fuel consumption figures can be found on page 79.

l

ight as a feather and pulsating in the slightest breeze, the gossamer shell hangs in space, illuminated by the ambient light that catches it.

The shimmering, silvery silhouette is suspended from the ceiling by countless transparent threads, appearing at once weightless and solid. At first sight it is reminiscent of an abstract mountain range in miniature; on closer inspec< tion, however, the contours reveal the distinctive form of the Mercedes-Benz CLA. Yasuaki Onishi steps back and lowers his glue gun. The Japanese artist runs his fingers pensively through his hair and reviews his installation with a practiced eye. “I’ve noticed how simple and elegant this car is. I just wanted to capture the form in a work of art.”

Air as a construct, negative space as art – that is Yasuaki Onishi’s vision. Using the simplest tools – translucent polythene sheets and threads of black glue – the 34-year-old creates works of art that challenge our viewing habits: as weightless as they are colossal, they appear to be floating in mid-air.

Until recently, the Osaka-based artist focused mainly on abstract landscapes – such as his famous installation series Reverse of Volume, which has received showings at prestigious galleries in Norway, Israel and the U.S. His latest artwork, Shaping Air, was created in a hangar near Stuttgart and sets out to capture the flowing lines of the Mercedes-Benz CLA. Boasting a Cd figure as low as 0.22, the four-door coupe is the world’s most streamlined production car. “It’s got something organic about it – a natural, aerodynamic form. I think the parallels to my artwork can definitely be found here,” Onishi explains.

His signature approach is to create works by slowly drizzling glue from nylon threads at-

tached to the ceiling. As the thousands of beads drip downwards, they come into contact with a giant sheet of translucent polythene spread out over an object a few meters beneath. When the object is subsequently removed, it leaves behind a negative space – and a silhouette that is floating in the air.

Using just a plastic sheet and a glue gun, Onishi is able to shape air into organic works of art that often have a ghostly, ethereal effect – and invariably leave a great deal of scope for interpretation.

“My artworks often remind people of mountain ranges. But this time I wanted to create a piece using a more materialistic object,” Onishi explains. He spent five days working on his unusual project with patience, absolute precision and meticulous attention to detail. And all the while, the artist studied the shape of the Mercedes-Benz CLA, carefully running his hand over the plastic sheet, memorizing every curve and indentation of the coupe’s silhouette. The more precise the representation of the car’s shape beneath the sheet, the greater the number of glistening beads of glue.

As an aid to concentration, Onishi listens to classical music while he works. During a break, the artist sips green tea and explains how this intense artistic encounter with the Mercedes-Benz CLA triggered a special feeling in him: “I sense the pride of a manufacturer that derives from a long tradition.”

By contrast, Onishi’s works are made for the moment. His Shaping Air installation was created to be the subject of a fascinating video (see link), before being dismantled once filming was complete. In this way, Onishi’s unusual creative process is itself part of the fragile artwork – a breath > of mobility.

Einarmiger Handstand bei starkem Wind: Jede seiner Bewegungen sieht leicht und beiläufig aus, egal, ob er über knorrige Bäume oder bröckelnde Felsen springt.

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Volt from the blue 48

w o r d s m i c h a e l m o o r s t e dt p h o t o s d a n i e l I n fa n g e r

D r i v e

THE MOST POWERFUL ELECTRIC SUPER-SPORTS CAR in the world provides a feast of experiences on a trans-Alpine drive. And a selection of other Mercedes-Benz models also support “electric motor” as an alternative term for driving fun.

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a roar is not something youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll hear from this particular supercar. The future it promises is not a loud one; the noisiest it gets is a dynamic hum â&#x20AC;&#x201C; like a sound effect from a science fiction movie.

K I N G O F TH E M O U N TA I N S 552 kW and 1,000 Nm (738 lb-ft) of torque are enough for any stage victory.

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D r i v e

A

MILESTONES IN EL EC T R I C M O B I L I T Y 1969 After some early dabbling at the beginning of the 20th century, Mercedes-Benz relaunches its research activities in the field of alternative drive systems with the OE 302 electric bus.

1972 The LE 306 is the first electrically-powered test van with battery exchange technology.

1982 The first electric passenger car prototype is a W 123 station wagon with a nickel-iron battery on board weighing 600 kilos (approx. 1,300 lb).

19 94 Mercedes is also conducting research on an emission-free fuel cell drive system.

The technology involved fills an entire van.

twisty mountain pass in the Austrian Alps provides the venue for a tête-à-tête between the past and the future. Hurtling towards one of many stunning views is a beautiful Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (in silver, naturally), the object of every car enthusiast’s desires for over 50 years. The SL shoots past us and disappears into the next hairpin, bidding us a final farewell with a throaty roar from the other side. We, too, are at the wheel of a very beguiling machine, though, and at first glance not a great deal seems to have changed since 1955. The smooth sweep of our car’s silhouette has the eye wandering over its long hood down to the road; it even has gullwing doors, which challenge the uninitiated to slide into the driver’s seat with any elegance. But a roar, let alone a full-throated one, is not something you will hear from this particular Mercedes super-sports car. The future it promises is not a loud one; the most it will utter is a dynamic hum. The future is an SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive – in a suitably space-age, shimmering metallic blue.

A pause in the action during the 4th Silvretta E-Rally in Austria’s Montafon region – a three-daylong showcase for the potential of 20 or more electrically-powered cars – gives us the opportunity to take the electric SLS for an extensive test drive.

Mercedes-Benz is represented here by the largest electric fleet in the field, including a smart electric drive (the first series-produced electric car from a German manufacturer) and a B-Class Electric Drive, which will be launched in the USA in 2014.

And they are joined, of course, by the SLS Electric Drive – with an impressive 552 kW to its name and a top speed electrically limited to 250 km/h < (155 mph). Beneath the carbon monocoque is

WING COMMAND The electric SLS also has the signature gullwing doors.

19 98 Daimler begins long-term trials with an electrically-powered vehicle ready for everyday use based on the A-Class.

20 0 3 A big step forward: the fuel cell technology fits into an A-Class.

Testing begins under everyday conditions.

200 9 The first smart fortwo electric drive enters series production.

The B-Class F-Cell is launched.

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a lithium-ion battery weighing 548 kilograms (just over 1,200 lb). It is made up of 12 modules with 72 cells each and has a voltage of 400V. The four electric motors, one for each wheel, have a huge amount of power at their disposal. Indeed, combined torque stands at 1,000 Newton meters (738 lb-ft). These figures sound like they’ve been cherry-picked from a pack of Top Trumps cards, but they all belong to one electrically-powered car. How can this be possible?

Electric mobility, after all, continues to suffer a reputation for being a little, well, boring. Driving fun is not the first thing that occurs to most people when you mention an electric car. A reappraisal, it would seem, is overdue.

Science fiction soundtrack The electrically-powered SLS proves the doubters wrong. Austrian mountains are clearly not the natural habitat of the SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive, a

t unnel v i s i o n The electric sports car sprints from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.9 seconds.

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car more at home on the Nordschleife. Extracting the car’s full potential here is not easy. But then a long stretch of straight road opens up. A hearty dab of the accelerator and we are pressed back into the bucket seats in a manner you will perhaps only have experienced during take-off in an aircraft. Onlookers at the roadside are left in no doubt that a very special car has just flashed by. It owes this instant impact not only to its looks, but also its acoustic profile. If you were played the sound it produces without knowing where it came from, you would never associate it with a car. The distinctive hum is more like a sound effect from a science fiction movie.

The development of this electrically-powered missile on wheels never focused entirely on everyday usability, explains AMG project manager Jan Feustel after our first test lap. It took just four years for a series-produced model to emerge from the pro< totype, with 80 percent of the technology re-

i SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive Engine / Output Four synchronous magneto-electric motors, total output: 552 kW; max. torque 1,000 Nm (738 lb-ft)

Battery Lithium-ion battery, capacity 60 kWh

Power point After three hours hooked up to a wallbox, the high-voltage battery – which contains a great deal of KERS know-how from Formula 1 – is ready to deliver top performance.

D r i v e

“ REGISTRATION FIGURES ARE STILL ON THE RISE.” Daimler eMobility expert Christine Haller on the company’s electric car strategy Dr. Haller, is it just us or have electric cars endured a rather subdued start to life?

Three years ago electric mobility was riding a wave of extremely positive hype and market researchers were predicting disproportionately high sales figures. The reality could not keep pace with the euphoric forecasts, leading to a certain disillusionment among the public. However, look at the facts and you’ll see that registrations are actually showing triple-digit percentage growth. We’ve spoken to experts and customers around the world and the verdict is that this growth will continue.

o n t h e w ay Coming to Europe soon – the new B-Class Electric Drive.

So what’s delaying the advance of electric cars?

There are several factors. Firstly, there has to be a sufficiently attractive range of projects on the market. We need to familiarize both ourselves and our customers with the new technology. And that links in with the issue of established routine. For example, some people find it disconcerting that they will no longer simply stop at a filling station when they need to refuel. However, studies show that it doesn’t take long for people to stop viewing charging the car as restricting. People can charge their car at home or work, and that also takes away the need to wait around at filling stations.

MILESTONES IN EL EC T R I C M O B I L I T Y 200 9 The Vision S 500 is still a prototype. As well as a combustion engine, it is also fitted with an electric motor capable of powering it for 30 km (19 miles) with zero local emissions. The motor cuts fuel consumption to 3.2 l/100 km (73.5 mpg).

2010 500 units of the electricallypowered A-Class E-Cell are built under series production conditions.

2011 The small-series hydrogenpowered B-Class F-Cell gets off to a good start with 180 vehicles finding owners in three countries.

e-xpert Dr. Christine Haller, Head of Marketing and Sales eMobility at Daimler AG, is one of those shaping the present and future of electric mobility.

2013 The SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive goes on sale in June.

The new model sets a new Nürburgring-Nordschleife lap record for a series-produced electrically-powered car of 7:56.234 minutes.

photo Daimler AG

2012 In June, order books open for the smart fortwo electric drive in more than 30 markets.

Is it possible to adapt the range of combustionengined models to run emission-free?

Zero-emission driving does not have to mean an absence of appeal; the SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive proves this very clearly. The B-Class Electric Drive will be presented in the USA in early 2014, and will arrive in Europe a year later. A plug-in hybrid version of the S-Class is scheduled for launch in 2014. Plug-in hybrid variants of our Mercedes model series will be introduced onto the market in a gradual process.

Which segment would you say provides the biggest sales opportunities?

The right degree of electrification varies from segment to segment. For example, the smart fortwo electric drive fits the profile of a car that meets the daily mobility needs of many people, and it is the current electric car market leader. But the share of commercial vehicles and delivery van fleets running on electric power is also set to increase. The main thing is that those already driving electrically-powered vehicles are doing so not only to help the environment but also because they offer a lot of driving fun and already boast impressive everyday usability.

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driving the smart electric drive is a flowing process made up of smooth acceleration and easy coasting – where the car utilizes the kinetic energy generated to partly recharge the battery.

tained. The development team had to overcome many challenges along the way, but they did not stem directly from the electric drive system. Instead, there were issues with the heating system, for example, as it no longer had the engine’s heat to work with. And similar hurdles were encountered with the coolant and the brake booster which, in combustion-engined vehicles, uses vacuum generated in the intake manifold. For many of these secondary functions, Feustel and his team had to find new solutions. “This car doubles up as a learning accelerator and technological showpiece,” says the AMG man. “We will continue to benefit from the knowledge we gained during its development for a long time.” So what we have here is something akin to a research vehicle on the loose in the wild.

And yet despite all this, it is “a genuine Mercedes.

We haven’t just bought in the expertise from one or other supplier – it has been developed in conjunction with our Formula 1 team.” All the parts used in the SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive are from the Mercedes-Benz trove.

Playfulness and inventiveness “Our aim is to show that electric mobility need not automatically mean sacrifice,” says Jan Feustel with a grin. A second stint at the wheel of the SLS clarifies his point. With the touch of a button we switch from Comfort into Sport+ mode, and suddenly it’s as if we are driving a completely different car. Torque vectoring may not actually contort the laws of physics, acceleration and inertia, but it certainly feels like it does. This is one of the key features of the SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive that drivers who do not spend most of their time on the track can experience. Torque vectoring sees the 54

i smart fortwo electric drive Motor / Output Magneto-electric motor, 35 kW constant, 55 kW peak; max. torque 130 Nm (96 lb-ft)

Battery Lithium-ion battery, capacity: 17.6 kWh

Charge of the light brigade The battery reaches full charge in roughly seven hours – or less than an hour with the optional fast-charge function. The car’s electric-only range is around 145 kilometers (90 miles).

Chill with a cool app A smartphone app allows the interior of the smart fortwo electric drive to be pre-cooled while the battery is charging.

Further technical specifications and fuel consumption figures can be found on page 78.

car’s control unit precisely measuring out – in a fraction of a second – the drive split between all four wheels so that maximum torque is available to the driver immediately. “It feels as if the car could drive through the corners itself,” Feustel had commented earlier. Now I see what he means.

At the other end of the electric scale from our SLS is the smart electric drive. The small two-seater is waiting for us at the rally base station and is still being charged. The scene is just as you would imagine. Behind the “filler cap” is the connector, which is hooked up to a standard power socket by a charging cable. We unplug the car and drive away. After a short getting-to-know-you period, during which we catch ourselves frequently casting anxious glances at the battery charge display, we soon grasp that you have to drive an electrically-powered car differently than a combustion-engined equivalent. It is a flowing process made up of smooth acceleration and easy coasting – where the car utilizes the kinetic energy generated to partly recharge the battery. The battery itself is out of sight, the smart electric drive offering just as much space as its gasoline-powered siblings, i.e. easily enough for the weekend shop.

You only have to climb on board to see how flexible electric mobility has already become; super-sports machine or small car, a focus on ground-covering speed or everyday usability. A wonderful blend of playfulness and inventiveness wafts over engineers like Jan Feustel. His team was aware of their groundbreaking exploits, he explains. “E-technology opens up new freedoms and presents us with new challenges. But that’s nothing new; after all, Bertha Benz had to buy her gasoline at a drugstore on that famous maiden long-distance car journey < back in 1888.”

H o l ly w o o d l e g e n d meets legendary car: Tony Curtis at the wheel of his 300 SL in 1956.

I

ts gullwing doors made it the darling of the stars, as well as a star among sports cars. Though manufactured for a scant three years, the 300 SL Coupe’s huge influence is still palpable in the ultramodern vehicles of today. A wayward vulture nearly ended the story of an icon’s rise before it even got started. Barreling along at 220 km/h (nearly 140 mph) during the 1952 Carrera Panamericana, the 300 SL slammed into one of the massive birds, driving it straight through the passenger-side windshield. It had to happen to the very car with which Mercedes was mounting a comeback in international auto racing. Luckily, drivers Karl Kling and Hans Klenk were unharmed and went on to claim victory in the 3,100km (almost 2,000-mile) race, laying the cornerstone for the growth of an automotive legend.

Above all in the USA, people were highly enamored of the race car and its competitive successes.

So much so that the car’s U.S. importer called for a mass-produced street version. Mercedes complied, producing 1,400 300 SL coupes from 1954 to 1957.

“SL” stands for “super light” and refers to the tubular space frame chassis developed especially for the SL race car by Rudolf Uhlenhaut in order to save weight.

The technical demands of the tubular chassis, also incorporated in the street version, gave birth to this classic’s most distinctive feature: its gullwing doors set deeply into the roof. They open at waist height, swing straight up and evoke delicately outstretched wings – which is why in the U.S. and France the doors are poetically dubbed “gullwing” and “papil-

High flier Its gullwing doors made it the darling of the stars, as well as a star among sports cars. Though manufactured for a scant three years, the 300 SL Coupe’s outsized influence is still palpable in the ultramodern vehicles of today.

POL I T I C I A N Ali Aga Khan, Pakistani prince and one-time spouse of Rita Hayworth, pictured in Venezuela in the 1950s.

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r ace driver F1 legend Stirling Moss raced for Mercedes in 1955.

Just beforehand, the British driver had his picture taken in a 300 SL for the first time.

conductor Herbert von Karajan strikes a pose with his gullwing in Lucerne, Switzerland in 1957.

legends

photos Actionpress, images.de/Fotofinder, Interfoto (2), API, AKG _ Images, Reflex, DDP Images, Corbis words christoph henn

dreamy duo in a dream car: Zsa Zsa Gabor in a 300 SL with her then-beau, Porfirio Rubirosa.

250 km/h (150 mph) wasn’t fast enough: to impress the ladies, Porfirio Rubirosa had his speedometer altered to display up to 360 km/h (225 mph).

R o s i e HuntingtonWhiteley (left) climbs out of an SLS AMG in the film Transformers – Dark of the Moon.

Fellow actor Clive Owen (above) got to test the safety car version of the SLS AMG in 2010.

lon” (butterfly) respectively. Above all else, it was these doors that cemented the sports coupe’s immortality in spite of its limited production run.

In 2009, Mercedes reintroduced the feature in the SLS AMG Coupe – and now with the new gullwing SLS AMG Electric Drive it has created a zero-emissions version. The new super-sports car continues the tradition of the 300 SL, whose unconventional exterior wasn’t the only attention-grabber: people also liked what was under the hood. The 300 SL’s 215 hp engine took the car to a top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph) – although this was not enough for some.

To impress his female passengers, Porfirio Rubirosa allegedly had the speedometer on his 300 SL altered to display a maximum 260 km/h (225 mph).

Rubirosa, along with fellow playboy Gunther Sachs and film stars like Tony Curtis, Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida and Romy Schneider, were among many celebrities to own a gullwing. No wonder: not only was the car fast and glamorous, it also cost a small fortune – at 29,000 marks it was more than twice the price of two Mercedes-Benz 220 S sedans.

Named sports car of the century in 1999, the gullwing’s price has since increased dramatically. It was up to an unlucky garage mechanic to discover just how dramatically. In March 2013, the 26-year-old was test-driving a 300 SL that was in for a service and steered it into a ditch. The young man was unscathed – but the nearly 60-year-old dream car sus< tained €650,000 ($865,000) worth of damage.

c o m e d ia n and actor Eddie Murphy doesn’t just talk fast: his personal fleet includes a zippy Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG.

F1 d r i v e r Nico Rosberg at a ball and somehow still in his element: behind the wheel of a powerful 571 hp SLS AMG.

Sleeping roundly

t r e e h o u s e s have enjoyed a renaissance over recent years â&#x20AC;&#x201C; particularly as a luxurious, or indeed adventurous, change from conventional

hotel rooms. And now we have the cocoon tent, a mix of tree house, tent and hammock containing a double mattress 2.4 meters (7.8 ft) in diameter. The floating cocoon is suspended between trees by steel cables, allowing the breeze to rock its occupants gently to sleep. Unlike fixed tree houses, this spherical bedroom can be detached anytime and set up elsewhere. But you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to be a skilled tree climber to hang up the 120 kg (265 lb) tent: on request, the French manufacturer will reinstall it for you. An all-round solution to outdoor sleeping. c o c o o n t r e e . c o m 58

E m o t i o n

Patricia Urquiola originally trained as an architect and ranks among the most influential furniture designers of the 21st century. The items she creates are poetical and practical in equal measure.

G a s t r o n o m y

Samba sushi

photos Cocoontree (1), Adriá Goula (2), Fontanaarte (2) ILlustration Lyndon Hayes

D e s i g n e r Patricia Urquio-

la, born 1961, creates designs for companies such as Moroso, Alessi, Flos B&B Italia.

No small fry, then. In recent years, hotels have joined the portfolio, including the Mandarin Oriental in Barcelona and the W Vieques in Puerto Rico.

Urquiola describes her style as simple, yet her designs display sensual forms and playful details. The surface of the Antibodi lounge chair, for example, features a sewn, threedimensional petal form, while the rugs in her Mangas series boast a variety of colours and weaves. “I like giving objects a soul,” says the Spaniard – which explains why memory is a key motif in her designs.

“With every design I start with memory, but I rethink it in a new way.” That is how her baby daughter’s smock became part of an office chair. While the past invariably plays a role, the designer consciously distances herself from future dreams. “Goals are fiction.

The nicest and most important things in my life aren’t my goals but simply what happens. And one should always be open to that.”

B a r c e l o n a Ikibana Paralelo is a restaurant that favors rather offbeat culinary combinations. Fusing Brazilian and Japanese cuisine, it creates dishes such as São Paulo Way – uramaki sushi with tuna and caramelized pineapple. The reinterior was styled by the architects of El Equip Creativo, who gleaned their inspiration from Japanese flower arrangements and the Brazilian rain forest. Strips of wood form a woven pattern on the ceiling, while plants arranged in ikebana fashion provide visual screening in the window displays. i k i b a n a . e s

Budding designer

F L O W ERS open up when the sun shines. By contrast, the small “Blom” table lamp by Andreas Engesvik of Norway glows more brightly the closer you push the petals together. As these rotating petals are made of plastic, the flower doesn’t get hot and the light can be dimmed to suit the mood. fon ta na a rt e.com

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Los Angeles

The lightness of art

James Turrell’s installations take the form of empty spaces filled with changing light – intangible but very real. L.A. is hosting a retrospective of the U.S. artist until April 6, 2014. l acm a .org

D e s i g n

Treasuretrove

After their natural death, Chan transforms beetles into items of jewelry.

“ D iscipline and creativity are important to create something.

But the really crucial point is that you have to dare to take a risk.” m aya a n g e lo u, w r it e r

L ON D ON Designer Anabela Chan creates jewelry and objects that unite nature and art. Her gold-cast beetles with genuine wings or petals made of butterfly wings are so magical, they seem to have been created by alchemy. a na bel ach a n.com

Cool mix v i e n n a Veganista is the Austrian capital’s

first vegan ice parlor. It serves milk-free ice cream in alternating flavors of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, as well as orange-saffron and basil sorbets. v e g a n i s t a . a t

P H OTO G R A P H Y

Transience in the frame Paris Thomas Jorion takes photographs of empty buildings, such as the Bulgarian Buzludzha Monument (above). The Frenchman’s pictures appear static and frozen in time – as if he were the first human in an eternity to set foot in the ruins. t h o m a s j o r i o n . c o m

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Thailand betweenthecovers

phOTOS Laif; Anabel Chan (2); DPA Picture Alliance; Thomas Jorion, Designhotels (4)

The Library resort on the island of Koh Samui lives up to its name. For a storybook holiday, look no further.

K o h S a m u i This hotel is the architectural equivalent of a book – a simple format with plenty of content. Cube-shaped bungalows housing suites and studios line the route from the busy road to the gleaming white main building and the pool with its glowing red tiles and the sea beyond. Like a good novel, The Library on the Thai island of Koh Samui entices guests into its realm and shuts the door on the outside world.

The hotel bar overlooks the noisy Chaweng Beach Road, where you can spend nights on end checking out the food stalls, pubs and clubs. The resort itself exudes a deep calm, interrupted only by the calls of the mynah birds and the gentle lapping of the ocean waves.

Each room has an iMac with Internet connection – though for many it is enough just to know you can go online anytime. The minimalist décor of the rooms is designed to avoid distraction, while the loungers on the beach are so big and comfortable, they’re more like daybed sofas.

Those who still can’t clear away the cobwebs from their mind despite all this relaxation can go for a workout in the gym that overlooks the ocean, or pay a visit to the hotel’s own library with its stock of more than 1,300 books and illustrated tomes in English, German, Spanish and French.

After all, there are three things that make up a happy holiday: sun, sea and a good read. t h e l i b r a r y. c o .t h

Enlightenment is guaranteed in the brightly-lit hotel library (left and above)

Book ahead: the 102-square-meter (1,098-sq.-ft) Bookmark Suite (right) with jacuzzi and outsize bed

ART OR DELICATESSEN Use your smartphone app to scan the QR code for access to more information about all topics. mb - qr . com /0cg

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Welcometo Wow-saw

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w o r d s k ata r i n a b a d e r

photos Christian Kerber

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warsaw’s per capita income exceeds that of Great Britain. And now, the Polish capital’s cultural life is also undergoing a renaissance: fashion designers, artists and chefs are hard at work demonstrating just how creative this eastern European metropolis can be.

U P, U P A N D A W AY Left page: Skyscrapers rise from the ground in downtown Warsaw, like the Złota 44 Tower by star architect ­Daniel Libeskind (far left). Right: Michal Piróg, host of the ­Polish Top Model TV show, checks out the collection at fashion designer Ania Kuczynska’s boutique with a style consultant.

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A

t first, it feels like you’ve been plopped down in a city in North America somewhere, its downtown bristling with skyscrapers. A remarkable undulating glass-and-steel roof arches over a shopping mall with the kind of massive dimensions rarely seen this side of the Atlantic. In the glass façade of the surrounding buildings looms the reflection of a vast edifice reminiscent of New York City’s first skyscrapers – were it not for the militant workers’ statues at the building’s base, revealing the Stalinist origins of Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science.

The boom’s engine room “Skyscrapers, construction cranes, malls – at first glance, it’s easy to see that this is a city in the midst of a boom,” says fashion designer Ania Kuczynska. “At second glance, though, you’ll also see that Warsaw is a very endearing city.”

Those willing to look a little closer, proclaims the 37-year-old designer, will quickly find themselves addicted to Warsaw. Kuczynska’s boutique is located in the eastern part of the city center, where amidst the Communist apartment blocks and modern glass façades one can still glimpse a few of the magnificent residences and palaces that characterized Warsaw prior to the destruction wreaked by the Second World War. In the street cafes people sit with cappuccinos and laptops, exuding the dual air of activity and nonchalance that typifies modern-day Warsaw. Small boutiques

by Polish fashion designers are all around, and they are busy.

Poland’s economy is growing, and the capital is the engine fueling the boom. Warsaw has even surpassed some Western countries – the per capita income here is higher than in Great Britain and almost as high as in Germany. This newfound sense of self-confidence is also apparent in fashion trends: “Back in the 1990s, Poles only bought Western brands,” recalls Kuczynska.

“It was mass-produced stuff meant to slake people’s initial thirst. These days, people are after things that will add a bit of spice to their lives.

The growing interest in Polish fashions is a part of this trend.” During the 1990s, Kuczynska studied at renowned fashion institutes in Milan and Paris. But all the while she knew that when it was done, she would return to Warsaw, the city of her birth, to develop her own label. “While I was studying, I would come back home to visit and every time there’d be a new skyscraper and lots of new shops, bars and cafes.” This dynamic also manifested itself in the personal stories of her acquaintances. “While my Italian friends studied political science for ten years and lived with their parents, my Polish friends were typically rushing to study something practical, do a bunch of foreign internships, start their own businesses, buy their own apartments and start families.”

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C U LT U R E M E E TS TECHNOLOGY An A200 CDI parked in front of the Neon Museum, located in an old factory building in the trendy Praga neighborhood.

Right: Joanna Mytkowska, director of the Museum of Modern Art, who left Paris to work in Poland. Behind her is the Palace of Culture and Science, a Warsaw landmark.

In the interim, Kuczynska has become one of the country’s best-known designers. Spend some time in her small, modest shop and one encounters a remarkably diverse group of people. First, Michal Piróg stops by, the 34-year-old host of the Polish Top Model TV show. He is followed by a teenager in an H&M shirt who’s been diligently saving for months to buy herself the hip backpack from Kuczynska’s accessory collection, and after her comes a woman in her mid-60s who is interested in the distinctively tailored blouses. To the West and back again – Ania Kuczynska’s path is typical of many of the movers and shakers of contemporary Warsaw.

Joanna Mytkowska certainly belongs to that group. Aged 43, she is the director of Warsaw’s Museum of Modern Art. Before becoming the country’s youngest museum director five years

this city isn’t always pretty, but it’s always interesting, attractive and very stimulating.” ania kuczynska, fashion designer

ago, she spent several years working at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. But when the job offer from Warsaw arrived, she didn’t think twice.

“There it was all about the preservation of art, but here it’s about creating something entirely new,” she explains.

Over the past few years, the Polish art scene’s international reputation has grown by leaps and bounds. Painters like Wilhelm Sasnal and multimedia artists such as PaweɫAlthamer exhibit their works in the world’s greatest galleries. “The latest generation of Polish artists has an international presence, but at the same time they are extremely committed to playing a role in the Polish transformation,” says Mytkowska.

“And because the decisions being made in Poland these days are still of an elemental, groundbreaking nature, for them art is not simply a job, like it is for many of their Western contemporaries, but a mission.”

Take a tour through the museum’s exhibition space and it’s easy to see what Mytkowska is talking about. The majority of works on display deal with the overarching themes of the Polish transformation: religion or secularization? Social market economy or unbridled laissez-faire <

Further technical specifications and fuel consumption figures can be found on page 78.

e m o t i o n

ne w mee t s o l d Warsaw, a city of contrasts. The 1955 Palace of Culture and Science (center) greets its neighbor, the Libeskind Tower.

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WAKE Y WAKE Y !

A traditional breakfast of egg salad, plum puree, tomatoes and Biały Ser, a type of farmer’s cheese.

capitalism? Globalization or new nationalism?

Even the exhibition space itself reflects this transformation. The museum – at least until a planned new building is finished in a few years – is temporarily housed in a former 1970s furniture megastore that is surprisingly stunning from an architectural point of view and features huge windows with views of both the modern skyscrapers and the Stalinist Palace of Culture and Science.

Museum director Mytkowska has grown especially fond of these temporary digs: with the city in a permanent state of reconstruction, it’s a good fit, she maintains. Quiz Mytkowska on the hot spots of Warsaw’s art scene, and she starts reciting a seemingly infinite list: the new galleries, cafes and restaurants in the Powisle neighborhood, the design shops in Mokotów, the former factories in the Praga workers’ district.

It was there, a couple of years ago, that a few creative individuals decided to take the initiative and began remodeling a former factory site. In the interim, the Soho Factory has come to house two dozen design shops and a number of galleries, fashion boutiques and restaurants. The neighborhood on the eastern bank of the Vistula River, still considered dangerous just a few years ago, has long since morphed into one of the city’s most ‚loved.

Change is the only constant It is a developmental pattern that is typical for this city of 1.7 million inhabitants: old and new overlap each other constantly and stopgap measures rapidly turn into hot new trends. Should this dynamic prove overwhelming to the visitor, however, Warsaw also offers plenty of refuge from the blistering pace of change. All it takes is a promenade through the lovingly restored old city, followed by a stroll around Łazienki Park with its ancient trees and classical gazebos – and perhaps a stop in 150-year-old Café Wedel, which celebrates the best of middle European coffeehouse and chocolate culture – for one to quickly rediscover that Warsaw is in fact a venerable, old world European capital. But one in which change is the only constant. <

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e m o t i o n

Kitchenconfidential o ne o f wa r s aw ’ s most revered restaurants is only

i Chlodnik (cold red beet soup) Red beets, boiled until soft and pureed Beef broth Yogurt Sour cream Cucumber, peeled, seeded, cut into small cubes Spring onions, diced E A ST - W E ST GOURMET At Warszawa Wschodnia restaurant (left), owner-chef Mateusz Gessler (below) serves up a combination of classic Polish and gourmet French cuisine.

Egg, hard-boiled Onion, grated

accessible through the back door. U Kucharzy (“At the Cooks’”) is housed inside a shuttered hotel. Situated near Warsaw’s old city, the building stands vacant. Nevertheless, each night a procession of elegantly clothed people vanishes through its rear entrance. Join them and you’ll find yourself in the former kitchen of the Hotel Europejski: white-tiled walls, a huge old-fashioned stove in the center and an assortment of old, large-scale culinary devices all bear witness to the space’s former function.

Nowadays, the cooking implements share space with elegantly laid tables and a grand piano complete with pianist. Diners enjoy a close-up view of oven and stove and get their meals served by the chefs themselves, the elegantly attired waitstaff always close at hand. The restaurant is headed up by Adam Gessler Jr., like Mateusz an offspring of one of the city’s best-known gastronomic dynasties. Here he successfully unites traditional Polish cuisine with experiential gastronomy and old-fashioned comfort. The scrumptious pirogi – bite-size dumplings – are especially worthwhile, prepared and filled right before your eyes. U Kucharzy restaurant, Ossolinskich 7, Tel. +48 22 8267936.

Radishes, thinly sliced Dill and chives, freshly chopped Salt, pinch of sugar, freshly ground pepper

KITCHEN PROS Adam Gessler (above) at U Kucharzy restaurant. Stuffed pirogi (right) are a house specialty.

Pani Ewa (above) has worked here for 36 years.

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Need to know ! Let’s go !

C H I VA L R Y R I D E S AG A I N Kissing a lady’s hand might not be as widespread in Poland as it was a decade ago, but it still scores points in some social circles.

Try the Royal Route if you’re in the mood for a nice walk – an avenue lined with classical palaces, shops and restaurants. An ideal starting point is Rondo Charles’a de Gaulle’a, easily reachable by tram. From here stroll a mile or two up historic Ulica Nowy Swiat, past Warsaw University all the way to the Royal Castle.

F L OW E R POW E R Poles give each other fresh flowers on many occasions. But if you’ve received a personal invitation to dinner, showing up with an attractive bouquet in hand is an absolute must. Flowers can be had on practically every street corner.

Sun d o w ne r The Panorama Bar on the 40th floor of the Marriott Hotel offers a magnificent view of downtown Warsaw. The scenery is especially impressive at sundown, which might explain why so many Warsaw residents can be found there relaxing with a drink after work.

“ THIS IS A GREAT city to live in. Warsaw is the friendliest city in the world once you’ve found your place in it. I consider Warsaw to be a very reliable friend.”

v o d ka gu r u Bartender Roman Modzelewski.

p o p s in g e r m o nik a b r o d k a o n t he p o li s h c a pita l

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rooftop garden (left), the University Library is one of Warsaw’s most beloved buildings. Polish architects Marek Budzynski and Zbigniew Badowski’s unconventional structure unites a monumental façade featuring massive inscribed stone tablets with a light-filled, inviting interior. The building’s loveliest aspect, however, is its rooftop garden, freely accessible to the public during daytime hours. Wandering among its myriad flowers and shrubs, visitors are also treated to a marvelous bird’s-eye view of Warsaw’s landmarks: downtown’s skyscrapers, the Palace of Culture and Science, the restored old city, the Vistula River and, on the opposite bank, the trendy Praga neighborhood. No wonder that scores of newlyweds get photographed here during the summer months.

Ulica Dobra 56/66.

N AT I O N A L TR E A S U R E Even though more and more young people are turning away from the Catholic Church, cracking jokes about Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005, is not recommended when Poles are around. He was and still is considered a national treasure.

VOD K A 101 Polish vodka is world-famous, but it should only be consumed if there’s a good reason. Which is why Warsaw’s best-known bartender, Roman Modzelewski – overseer of libations at the legendary bar Przekasek Zakasek – suggests accompanying buffalo grass vodka with a succulent piece of boiled ham or fresh steak tartare.

I G E T A RO U N D Getting around by taxi is cheap in Warsaw. Calling ahead is the best way to get a car, though.

Hailing a cab on the street is often a fruitless exercise as the cars tend to be already full.

t r avel in f o r mat i o n The main recommendations from this article can be found at: m b - q r . co m / 0c d

illustration anna linder

The city’s verdant rooftop

Feat u r ing a lu s h

e m o t i o n

Rub shoulders with the literary set

in r ecen t yea r s , the

Powisle neighborhood near the Vistula River has developed into one of Warsaw’s hottest nightlife destinations.

On mild summer evenings, btw (“by the way”) on Lipowa Street is particularly inviting, with guests enjoying Mediterranean cuisine, relaxing music and the gentle breeze drifting off the nearby river. Next door is an ice cream shop with delicious organic ice cream, while a number of great cafes and clubs are close by. At Czuly Barbarzynca (“The Sensitive Barbarian”) you can imbibe not only in a great cup of coffee, but also in good literature – the cafe doubles as a bookstore and meeting point for Warsaw’s literati.

Particularly when the weather gets bad, the cafe with its indoor swingset is a popular destination for families with children. One of the neighborhood’s culinary highlights is Boscaiola on Ulica Wislana, the best Italian restaurant in the entire city.

C OO K I N G TH E B OO K S Cafe Czuly Barbarzynca (above) doubles as a bookstore.

Diners at btw restaurant (right) enjoy the outdoors.

Shop, look, stay a night or two 1

De s igne r s m o r ga s b o r d A number of designer shops have opened up on the site of the former Soho Factory. White Around offers furniture, lighting and dinnerware by Scandinavian and Polish designers.

Its owners lived in Sweden for an extended period, and now run this small, but elegant shop.

2

Wa r s a w in L ig h t s The Soho Factory site is also home to the Neon Museum. Housed in an abandoned factory building, the museum focuses on Warsaw’s neon sign culture from the entire post-war period. Not only are the ads attractive, they reveal much about Poland’s historical balancing act between Communism and consumerism.

3

Ol d Sc h o o l The attracive, art deco-styled Hotel Rialto offers a comforting contrast to the endless barrage of the modern and new that confronts visitors to Warsaw. It is also situated in an ideal location: the neighborhood boasts numerous cafes and the city center is just a five-minute walk away.

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h e s ay s , S h e s ay s For her, it’s about whether the car exudes power and performance. For him, it has to have comfortable seats – or is it the other way round? Women and men have different priorities – especially when it comes to cars. We ask a young couple about their experience with the Roadster.

FUTURE PERFECT Alexandra and Georg look forward to a weekend with the SLK 350 in Amsterdam.

A

74

w o r d s L a u r a S c h w e r dt n e r

photos ali kepenek

lexandra Honrath and Georg-Maximilian Kuhlmann live in Hamburg. Alexandra is a product manager for a cashmere label; Georg works at a bank and handles shipping finance.

Whereas Alexandra usually gets around town by bicycle, Georg uses their shared moped during the week. The car only comes out at weekends, when Georg visits his parents. The couple spent a weekend in Amsterdam on our behalf, putting the Mercedes-Benz SLK 350 through its paces.

The sun was shining when they arrived on Friday afternoon – and they had only one thought in their minds: “Let’s head to the coast!” Unfortunately, the whole of Amsterdam shared the same idea and the plan was thwarted by the traffic. But on Sunday the excursion went ahead. “It was amazing – everything I imagined it to be,” Georg says. “A cabrio, sunshine, a drive to the sea, your girlfriend > beside you. What more could you want?”

d r i v e

i

i

Georg, 27

Alexandra, 27

Profession

Profession

Shipping financer

Product and production manager

Kilometers per week 100–150 (60–240 miles), mainly weekends

Status Has been driving Mercedes-Benz virtually since birth

Kilometers per week No more than 20 (32 miles), usually rides a bike

Status Loves heavy, old cars

STRO N G PRO F I L E The Cabriolet’s feature line is carried across the doors.

FROM THE VERY FIRST MOMENT,

the SLK’s elegant lines and red paintwork caught people’s attention. One driver even wanted to swap. georg

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b e s eeing y o u Cabriolet, sunshine â&#x20AC;&#x201C; time to head for the coast.

G R A N D E N TR A N C E You can easily recognise the SLK with AMG Line by its muscular front apron.

WHAT I LIKED MOST was the glass roof you can darken when the sun gets too bright. alexandra

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d r i v e

Georg I D I D N ’ T R E A L I Z E it was going to be an AMG

Line model until we were given the keys to the car outside the hotel. I was amazed! Let’s face it, we men have a thing about powerful design. The SLK is very elegant – typically Mercedes in that respect – but the two large tailpipes give it an additional sporty and muscular look. I really think that’s a winning combination.

Needless to say, we were keen to give the car a test run right away. But it took me ages to adjust the seat. Having fumbled around underneath it looking for a lever, I eventually found the seat adjuster on the door. We drove with the roof down almost all of the time as it was so sunny. The roof takes so little time to open that the car is ready to go by the time you’ve fastened your seatbelt.

From the very first moment, the SLK’s elegant lines and red paintwork caught people’s attention. That started as soon as we got into the car. You really notice how people turn their heads when you drive past. One motorist even signalled that he wanted to swap. No chance! Though I’m embarrassed to admit it, I even caught myself revving the engine to turn a few more heads.

After spending Saturday with the photographer, we finally set off on Sunday along the highway. It was a great ride. The car handles like mercury on the road, fluid and quick as lightning. The steering is sporty and very responsive: you feel completely in touch with the road. And since we had the roof closed, we could really turn up the volume on the music system. The sound was fantastic, it was like driving through a music video.

S I TT I N G PR E TTY Alexandra is a fan of heated seats and the AirScarf.

C o o l s o un d s Georg likes the noise the SLK 350 makes – as well as the sound of its music system.

Alexandra AT F I RST S I G HT I thought to myself: the SLK is

one smart sports car – and that was even before finding out what it could do! The wheel rims with their slender spokes really suit such a sporty car. And I find the large Mercedes star on the radiator grill very cool, even if it’s not to everyone’s taste. It somehow makes the car look even more expressive than it already is – like you were getting into a race car. I half expected to find Formula 1 bucket seats, but fortunately the seats were very comfortable. In fact, the interior as a whole makes a really classy impression. The instrument panel is beautifully styled, the music system sounds fantastic, and as it got cooler in the evening, the heated seats and warm air at neck level kept me nice and snug. But the thing I liked most was the glass roof you can darken when the sun gets too bright. I’d never seen anything like that before – pretty impressive.

I like powerful cars. It’s no fun crawling along in a plastic shell with all the other cars whizzing past you. The SLK is a car with some weight, and you can feel that mass moving whenever you put your foot on the gas. It’s a great sensation. You don’t even have to do much, the car is so dynamic and responsive.

You certainly get the feeling this car is the complete package. So it was really lucky that we still managed to drive to the sea – it would have been a real shame if we hadn’t been able to go for a proper spin in such a wonderful cabrio. We had little opportunity in Amsterdam, where it seems bicycles have the right of way in the city’s < frequently gridlocked traffic.

i SLK 350 Engine / Output 3.5-liter six-cylinder, 225 kW at 6,500 rpm; max. torque 370 Nm (273 lb-ft) at 3,500–5,250 rpm

Transmission 7G-Tronic Plus 7-speed automatic transmission

Warm necks The optional AirScarf extends the open-top driving season. Warm air from the head restraints provides comforting heat at neck level for driver and front passenger.

The sky’s the limit Even when closed, the SLK offers that true cabrio feeling thanks to Magic Sky Control. The optional panoramic vario-roof features a glazed panel that turns transparent at the touch of a button.

Further technical specifications and fuel consumption figures can be found on page 79.

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i

smart fortwo electric drive

SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive

Motor / Output

Motor / Ouput

Electric motor (permanent magnet motor) 35 kW constant, 55 kW peak; max. torque 130 Nm (96 lb-ft)

Four synchronous electric motors (permanent magnet motors) 552 kW total output; max. torque 1,000 Nm (738 lb-ft)

Battery

Battery

Lithium-ion battery, capacity 17.6 kWh

Lithium-ion battery, capacity 60 kWh

Acceleration

Acceleration

0–100 km/h (62 mph) in 11.5 s

0–100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.9 s

Top speed

Top speed

125 km/h (77 mph)

250 km/h (155 mph)

CO2 emissions (combined)

CO2 emissions (combined)

Energy class A+

Energy class A+

Power consumption

Cd value

(page 54)

local 0 g/km (0 g/mi)

15.1 kWh/100 km (62 mi)

(page 48)

local 0 g/km (0 g/mi)

0.36

Power consumption 26.8 kWh/100 km (62 mi)

setting the tone The A-Class proves an attentiongrabber in Warsaw too.

GLA

(page 14)

This material serves as preliminary information. The availability for order and technical data of the new GLA-Class depends on the market launch dates per country, but not before end of 2013.

For more information, please contact your Mercedes-Benz partner.

height of style The SLK is a total artwork from every perspective.

A-Class (page 64)

Output 80 kW to 155 kW (depending on model variant)

Fuel consumption urban: 8.4–4.5 l/100 km (28–52.2 mpg) inter-urban: 5.1–3.3 l/100 km (46.1–71.2 mpg) combined: 6.4–3.8 l/100 km (36.7–61.9 mpg)

CO2 emissions (combined)

148–98 g/km (238–157 g/mi)

Energy class C to A+ 78

t he value s stat e d were calculated according to the measuring methods specified in the currently applicable version of Directive 80/1268/EWG. The data do not relate to a specific vehicle and are not part of the specification, but are merely for the purpose of comparing different vehicle types. The figures are provided in accordance with the German regulation “PKW-EnVKV” and apply to the German market only.

d r i v e

SLK 350

pu bl icat ion de ta i l s

(page 74)

Engine / Output 3.5-liter six-cylinder, 225 kW at 6,500 rpm; max. torque 370 Nm (272 lb-ft) at 3,500–5,250 rpm

Transmission 7G-Tronic Plus

Acceleration 0–100 km/h (62 mph) in 5.6 s

Top speed 250 km/h (155 mph)

CLA-Class (page 44)

Output 90 kW to 265 kW (depending on model variant)

Fuel consumption urban: 9.1–5.0 l/100 km (25.8–47 mpg) inter-urban: 5.9–3.5 l/100 km (39.8–67.2 mpg) combined: 7.1–4.2 l/100 km (33.1–56 mpg)

Fuel consumption urban: 9.9 l super/100 km (23.7 mpg) inter-urban: 5.5 l super/100 km (42.7 mpg) combined: 7.1 l super/100 km (33.1 mpg)

CO2 emissions (combined) 167 g/km (268 g/mi)

Energy class D

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CO2 emissions (combined)

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Energy class C to A+

phOTOS Daimler AG (2), Ralph Richter, Christian Kerber

on the wing The SLS AMG Electric Drive heralds the future of supercars powered by electricity.

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Rights Reprints and use, as a whole or in part, only with the express written permission of Daimler AG. No responsibility can be taken for unsolicited texts and photographs. Signed articles do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher or the editors. No guarantee is given for information on vehicle equipment and accessories. For binding information and prices please refer to the official Daimler AG sales documentation. All other content in this magazine has been compiled to the best of our knowledge, but no guarantee is given.

Mercedes-Benz magazine appears quarterly, with editions published under cooperation or license in 40 languages.

Number 330, 59th year of publication Printed on chlorine-free paper · Printed in Germany 6720033002 ISSN 1617-6677

79

ICONS t e m p e r at u r e

Beer doesn’t have a strong aroma, so it can also be drunk cold (6-8°C / 42-46°F). Exceptions are flavorful bocks and wheat beers, which should be enjoyed a bit warmer (10-12°C / 50-53°F).

green tea steeps ideally at 55-65°C (130-150°F), which preserves its vitamins and amino acids. In Asia it is often served as a cold drink as well.

w at e r should not be gulped ice-cold – it’s rough on the throat and the stomach lining, both of which are ill-equipped to handle it.

red wine, contrary to popular belief, shouldn’t be drunk at room temperature – it’s too warm.

Red burgundy, for example, has an ideal drinking temperature of 16-18°C (60-64°F). Pinot noir can even be enjoyed cold (6-8°C / 42-46°F).

82

the temperature of the coolant is important to any engine. Likewise, the temperature of a drink affects our enjoyment of it. Seven examples from hot to ice-cold.

vodk a is usually crystal-clear with little aroma. We tend not to drink the “little water” with food, so it can be consumed very cold, at best between 2 and 4°C (35-39°F). Careful though: while chilling vodka makes it refreshing, it also masks the alcohol content.

Energy drinks generally taste like liquefied gummy bears, which can be quite a shock to the taste buds. That’s why energy drinks are only tolerable if they’re really cold (3-5°C / 37-41°F), preferably with a couple of ice cubes and lots of lemon tossed in.

Illustration Leandro Castelao/Dutchuncle phOTOS Fotolia words Manfred Klimek

WHITE WINE SPRIT Z ERS are drunk thus: the more aromatic the varietal (eg. traminer, muscat, scheurebe), the higher the temperature.

Red wine spritzers? Forget it.