With only two weeks left for the grand opening of the 2012 edition of the Geneva Motor Show, Mercedes-Benz is commencing the official teasing phase of its next generation A-Class compact hatchback by dropping the first undisguised images of its Audi A3 and BMW 1-Series competitor.

The German automaker published two pictures of the new A-Class' interior, the center console and part of the dashboard of which look conspicuously similar to that of the latest B-Class small minivan that's already on sale in Europe.

After yesterday's surprise reveal on the sidelines of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 presentation in Barcelona, the German automaker has now gorged us with extra high-resolution photos and a new video of the 2013 SL63 AMG roadster.

The most powerful version of the new SL series will launch in Europe this May with prices in Germany set at €157,675 (US$206,600) for the SL 63 AMG and €189,269.50 (US$246,900) for the "Edition 1", while the optional AMG Performance Packages goes for €14,280 (US$18,600). Mercedes said U.S. sales will start later in the year, with pricing to be announced.

For the first time, the SL63 AMG will be available with a choice of two outputs.

The base version of the 5.5-liter bi-turbocharged V8 delivers 530bhp (537PS) at 5,500 rpm and 590 lb-ft (800Nm) from 2,000 to 4,500 rpm for a 0 to 60mph sprint time of 4.2 seconds (0-100km/h in 4.3"), and to 124mph (200km/h) in 12.9 seconds with an electronically limited top speed of 155mph (250km/h).

The SL63 AMG may have been a nice surprise, but the real reason why the press was gathered today at the Circuit de Catalunya track in Spain was the launch of Mercedes’ brand-new fighter for the 2012 Formula 1 championship.

Mercedes GP chose the first day of FIA’s second official pre-season test in Barcelona to unveil the W03. Admittedly, it has come late to the party, as the company's F1 racer was launched later than most of its competitors, but the team reckons that this was a good thing, since it gave them more time to hone the car.

The new Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG roadster made its first appearance this morning when F1 drivers Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg presented the car at the German team's official Formula One test in Barcelona, Spain, ahead of its world premiere at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show in early March.

At the heart of the high-performance version of the new SL is AMG's new M157 engine, which is used on a variety of other Mercedes models such as the CLS 63 AMG sports saloon and the ML 63 AMG SUV.

The 5.5-liter twin-turbocharged V8 unit is good for 529bhp and 590 lb-ft of torque, propelling the hardtop roadster from standstill to 60mph (96km/h) in 4.2 seconds en route to an electronically governed top speed of 155mph (250km/h).

Today’s Mercedes-Benz event at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain was supposed to be all about the presentation of it's new Formula 1 car during the first day of the 2012 season’s official tests.

Yet the 2012 F1 racer wasn’t the only Silver Arrow that was launched at the Barcelona track: as you can see in the video that follows, Michael Schumacher arrived on the pit lane driving the brand-new 2013 model year SL63 AMG.

The upcoming Beijing Auto Show in April will see another round of Chinese clones of familiar Western models including a Mercedes-Benz G-Class doppelganger crafted by Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., which most people know as Beiqi or by the acronym BAIC.

It is believed that BAIC's new G-Class inspired model that goes under the uninspired name B80VJ, will be displayed as a thinly disguised concept at the Beijing Auto Show with the production model to follow shortly after.

And if you're not convinced about the resemblance between the G-Class and the B80VJ from the drawings or the single rendering, a spy picture of BAIC's 4x4 loaded on a truck bed leaves no doubts about where BAIC received its inspiration from.

What strikes us as the most remarkable thing in this matter is that BAIC is Mercedes-Benz's partner in China producing the German firm's models for the local market!

The Renault-Nissan Alliance is deepening its ties with Daimler and the Mercedes-Benz brand.

The two groups, which have already moved ahead with a multitude of joint projects such as the upcoming Renault-based Mercedes Citan van, the production of Mercedes engines at Nissan's Tennessee plant, and the development of a common platform for the Smart and Renault Twingo, added another task to their list.

What we have here are the first scoop pictures of the next generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan caught while undergoing preliminary tests in Europe. The C-Class is a very important model for the German automaker as it's one of Mercedes' top sellers worldwide.

Parent company Daimler has already revealed that the new iteration will arrive in the market in 2014 and that for the first time ever, it will be built on North American soil at its Tuscaloosa plant in Alabama. Currently, the C-Class is manufactured at Mercedes plants in Germany, China and South Africa.

These first photos of the 2014 model suggest that the new C-Class will get sportier proportions with a shorter tail and front overhangs, and a swoopier roofline. Like the new A-Class, Mercedes-Benz's BMW 3-Series rival will adopt many styling cues from the F800 study showcased at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show.

Belinda Carlisle was right: Heaven is a place on earth. And we think we’ve just found it. The automotive heaven is located in Switzerland, in a showroom full of so many supercars that we lost track of the number.

The place is packed with both modern and classic exotics. Lamborghini fans would be most delighted as there are quite a few Aventadors, many versions of the Gallardo, Murcielago and Diablo from standard models to racing cars, as well as three rare Miuras and an LM002 SUV.

Coinciding with the European market launch of the 2012 Mercedes-Benz B-Class, Brabus has released its first tuning take on the small MPV. For the time being, the German tuner's offerings include upgrades for the exterior, interior and the chassis with the engine kits to become available later in the year.

On the outside, Brabus has prepared an aero kit that comprises a front spoiler that attaches directly to the front bumper and a rear apron housing a diffuser and the new quad tail pipes.

No one feels comfortable waiting in traffic for hours but that doesn't mean you have the right to push your way through like the driver of the Mercedes-Benz ML seen in the following dashcam video.

The owner of the German SUV obnoxiously squeezes his (or her) way between parked and moving cars hitting a Lada sedan in the process. What's more surprising is that the ML driver couldn't care less about the damages caused and continued to drive!

Luckily there was more traffic up ahead and the owner of the Lada was able to catch up with the ML.

The second generation of the CLS sports sedan will soon have an equally, if not more interesting sibling called the Shooting Brake.

This is not the first time we've snagged the sleek-looking estate model as our spies have captured both photos and a video of prototypes while testing in Europe, the only difference being now the burgundy shade of its lightly camouflaged body.

The CLS Shooting Brake will be less roomy than its E-Class Estate sibling, but at the same time offer a larger boot and increased practicality over the CLS sedan while retaining the latter's elegant lines.

The all-new 2012 Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG will arrive in U.S. showrooms this March with a starting price of $95,865, which includes an $875 destination charge.

The base model features a 5.5-liter bi-turbocharged V8 engine rated at 518HP and 516 lb-ft. Even though these numbers represent an increase of 15HP and 44 lb-ft over its predecessor, the new ML63 AMG's combined fuel economy of 16 mpg is 33 percent lower.

If you need more power, Mercedes offers an optional AMG Performance Package that boosts output to 550HP and maximum torque to 560 lb-ft.

These are the first official sketches of Mercedes-Benz's all-new Citan, which the German automaker describes as an 'urban delivery van'. The Citan will make its world premiere at the IAA Commercial Vehicle Show in Hannover this September and go on sale before the end of the year.

In spite of the fact that Mercedes-Benz does not mention it in its press release, the automaker had previously revealed that the small van was developed in partnership with the Renault-Nissan alliance as part of their strategic collaboration, which includes several more projects such as the Twingo/Smart platform and powertrain cross-supply.

The Citan broadens Mercedes-Benz's offerings in in the lower weight classes of the van market, which include the Vito (2.77 to 3.2 tons), Sprinter (3.0 to 5.0 tons) and Vario (6.0 to 8.2 tons).

The German company said that the small van segment has picked up in sales these past couple of decades and has now grown to around 700,000 units in Europe alone. It added that it plans to gain a market share of four to five percent in this segment with the Citan, which equals to 28,000 to 35,000 units a year in Europe.

On Tuesday, January 31, U.S. President Barack Obama’s schedule included a visit to the 2012 Washington Auto Show. The White House informed automakers on a two days’ notice to bring their most fuel-efficient models to the show.

Naturally, they obliged. For example, Honda flew in the FCX Clarity from California, Kia brought the Optima hybrid and Mercedes-Benz a fuel-cell car. Carmakers also brought along their top brass to discuss green technologies with the President.

As Bloomberg reports, the problem is that Obama, who had half an hour in his disposal, ignored foreign manufacturers.

Instead, he spent most of his time with domestic brands, posing for the press with the Dodge Dart, the Chevrolet Malibu, the Ford C-MAX Energi, the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 and the Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 (not pretty fuel efficient those two, by the way…).

A bicyclist –no, we didn't make a mistake- captured footage of the all-new 2012 Mercedes-Benz A-Class hatchback while riding with his team from El Golfo to Playa Blanca on the Spanish island of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.

It seems that the German premium carmaker was at the island to shoot video and pictures of the luxury compact model for its press material.

The A-Class seen here is the five-door hatchback model, which will be the first body style to be launched onto the market. Mercedes has already confirmed that the 5-door version will make its world premiere at the 2012 Geneva Auto Show in early March. A sportier looking three-door model will follow, possibly withing the next year.

We strongly oppose any form of violence on the road or anywhere else, for that matter, but what happens when you actually see someone attacking another person? Obviously, there's not one answer to that question as it all depends on the circumstances and whether or not someone's life is in danger.

In yet another wild incident from Russia that was captured on camera, a middle-age man in a Mercedes-Benz was squabbling with an elderly man in a hatchback.

The talk quickly escalated and the person in the Merc stepped out of the car and began attacking the other driver, initially punching and then kicking him with all his strength.

At that point, a young man in an Audi SUV stopped over and came to the scene and said something to the Mercedes driver who brushed him away. Seconds later the Audi driver runs back with a metal bat in his hand and whacks the tough guy on his legs putting him down. He then rushes to the Mercedes and breaks the mirror and windows before returning to his Audi and driving off!

Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche has made it clear that he wants Mercedes-Benz to become the number one premium manufacturer in the world, a title that for the time being belongs to its arch-rival BMW.

Last year, Mercedes sold 1.36 million units, around 300,000 less than BMW. According to Manager Magazin, Zetsche plans to reach the number one spot by almost doubling the three-pointed star’s production to 2.7 million vehicles by 2020 and increase its operating profit beyond 10 percent.

Like many other carmakers lately, Mercedes-Benz is preparing consumers for a new model debut through a dedicated app for smart phones. In the German firm's case, the new model is the upcoming 2012 A-Class premium hatchback, which will make its global premiere at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

To make things a bit more interesting, we learn that Mercedes will put several camouflaged 2012 A-Class hatchbacks in circulation in various German cities as part of a competition that will see one contestant winning a trip to the car's unveiling in Geneva.

You've no doubt heard by now about the U.S. indictment against the owners of the popular file-sharing site MegaUpload, which was shut down by feds on Thursday and which triggered a massive cyber-attack from Anonymous on a number of government websites including the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Today we also learn that the police seized a number of assets from the founder of MegaUpload, Kim Schmitz, aka Kimble, aka Kim Dotcom, including an amazing collection of automobiles with some rib-tickling license plates from his estate in New Zealand.

Twitter user Elliot Kamber was on hand to take a few shots of the cars that were seized, while we've also added a video after the break.

Among the vehicles taken from Schmitz's garage were a 2005 Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM with "Good" number plates, a 2010 Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG with a "CEO" plate, a pink 1959 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible, a 1989 Lamborghini LM002 and a 2010 Maserati GranCabrio. The cars are estimated to be worth over $6 million.