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Mercedes redesigned the SL - only two years after the first facelift to the sold since 2001 in more than 140,000 units Cabriolet was a sportier touch.

This time, the changes are more intense - in Stuttgart one even speaks of a "new SL".

The 231-hp SL280 is added as an entry level model, the SL350 climbs to over 300 hp. Motorized remain unchanged the 388 hp SL 500 and the 517-hp SL600. For this, the SL55 AMG differs with the compressor SL63 AMG with 6.2-liter naturally aspirated engine. This is the strongest displacement SL at all, because the SL600 has only 5.5 liters, and also the upcoming SL65 AMG remains smooth with 6 liters below the 6.2-liter engine, yet Ulrich Bruhnke, now chief of the supplier Visio Corp., has placed.

Design

The design has been sharpened with an arrow-shaped front, two non-functional scoops on the hood and a modified wheels and tail design. The peanut-shaped headlights are a thing of the past, they make way for a new style similar to the CLS sedan design. The interior has been changed slightly and the brilliant "Airscarf" that surrounds the driver and passenger even at a cool ambient temperature with a pleasant warm air stream is available as an extra.

Status-conscious buyers will appreciate the fact that the SL600 with easily recognizable V12 emblems apart from the less expensive versions. The SL is officially unveiled in early March in Geneva

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Greg Biffle had the lead late, but couldnt hold on as Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart passed him in the closing laps of Sundays Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Speedway. Biffle finished third, followed by Roush Fenway teammate Matt Kenseth in fourth and Carl Edwards in seventh.

GREG BIFFLE – NO. 16 NEXCARE/3M FORD FUSION (FINISHED THIRD)
“The Nexcare Ford Fusion car was really, really good and it’s unfortunate. We lost that race because of that caution flag and got stuck in the back. We had to work our way back up and really didn’t know how our car was and adjusted it and adjusted it out and then back again. Once I got out front, I was just way too loose there at the end and couldn’t hold off the 20 or the 48. If I would have been a little bit tighter, I know I would have been able to drive off pretty good, but, it’s unfortunate. We were back in traffic all day and had our car freed up and then we got out front and was just a little bit too loose. It was a good day—a top three. I’ve got to argue with the people that are critics of these cars that they put on good races.”

WHAT ABOUT THE CAR TODAY?
“We had a great setup from last fall that I think a lot of our cars ran here today. I know some guys had little bit different versions of it, but, overall, this was a good race track for us. I’m glad that we came back. I know we were all worried about coming here and running good.”

MATT KENSETH – NO. 17 DEWALT FORD FUSION (FINISHED FOURTH)
“It was a good run for the whole DeWalt team. We were kind of up and down all day. We didn’t have anything that could compete with Jimmie. He had everybody covered, but we had a pretty good car and came home fourth. We couldn’t quite get it right, but it was pretty decent.”

HOW WAS YOUR TIRE WEAR TODAY?
“It seemed all right. We ran a couple of full fuel runs it seemed like, so it didn’t seem like many people had problems. If you ran up high, where it was gray, we chorded a couple of right rears, but that’s kind of normal here, so I thought everything turned out pretty good.”

A BIG BOUNCEBACK FOR FORD AND ROUSH TODAY.
“Yeah, I don’t know how everybody else did, but we were able to be pretty solid and got a good finish. The last three or four weeks we’ve kind of been on the upswing a little bit. We had a top 10 at Charlotte and were maybe 10th at Darlington, so we’ve been doing a little bit better here. It was good for us to get a good finish.”

DO YOU FEEL THIS TEAM IS GETTING ON A ROLL?
“Yeah, we have all the tools there to win, it’s our job to figure out how to put it all together into a winning effort. We were closer today, but we were just a little off. I just couldn’t get it. Jimmie had everybody covered, kind of like the Roush cars did last fall here—they were just quite a bit better. We seemed to miss it just a little bit and this car is very, very sensitive and it’s easy to miss it by a little bit. It gets frustrating because you don’t know how to adjust it. One run you’re pretty good and you barely change it and you’re no good.”

DAVID RAGAN – NO. 6 UPS FORD FUSION (FINISHED 24TH)
“At times we made good adjustments and at times we didn’t. As a team we’ve got to build on the good ones that we made because at periods during the race I thought we were a top 15 car. We were never great, but our UPS Ford showed some promise. We just couldn’t make the right adjustments to keep it going fast.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY – NO. 26 CROWN ROYAL FORD FUSION (FINISHED 14TH)
DID THAT CAUTION WHEN YOU HAD PITTED UNDER GREEN SPOIL YOUR DAY?
“No, actually we had a really good car. When we got our lucky dog they all checked up getting on pit road and I tore the fender off of it and it pulled the splitter up and from there on out our car just was not very good. I really think we should have finished sixth or seventh, even after getting caught a lap down pitting too early. I thought I had a tire down is why we pitted, so it was just a tough day.”

SOME PROMISE WITH THE WAY THE CARS PERFORMED?
“I know that Greg and Carl and Matt—I don’t know how good the 6 was—but it looked like everybody else ran really good today. Our cars are good, we just have to put it together.”

GREG BIFFLE PRESS CONFERENCE
“We had a great car. What really probably screwed our day up was getting caught on pit road. We were running second and I was catching the 48 and we went through the green flag pit cycle and I ended up a lap down at the tail-end of the lead lap and the 48 was still the leader with four new tires. So I’m not sure how that all played out, but we spent the rest of the day getting back all the way to the front. We ran in traffic all day and once I got back toward the front, the car started getting loose and then once I got out front with two tires it was just so loose I couldn’t drive it. It was just really tough to drive out front. I saw the guys coming and I was just doing all I could do. I was afraid if Tony got up behind me in the corner that the car would probably spin out, so I figured my only hope was to go to the top, but I was so loose up there that I couldn’t get the gas down, either. I got a pretty good run at the top, but just needed a little adjustment and I think I would have made it more interesting. I think it would have been a three-way battle, possibly, instead of two. But, overall, a great day for us in the points and happy to come home third.”

DID YOUR HEART SINK WHEN THE 48 GOT PAST THE 1 AND 24 SO FAST?
“I couldn’t take my eyes off the road, so I didn’t see anything. If I would have looked anywhere but forward or out the side window I think I would have wrecked.”

With the Cayenne S Hybrid, Porsche swim with the hybrid shaft at the top or sailing. Because the Zuffenhausen want as long distance glide without engine.

2010, the first Porsche Cayenne will come with hybrid drive on the market. He is the next consumption-reducing innovation, with the Stuttgart their SUV range will wean the excessive drinking habits.

Basis for the hybrid powertrain is a V6 petrol engine from Audi stocks. The aggregate three-liter, direct injection and supercharging, Audi has developed just last year. While it makes the brand with the four rings from 213 to 245 kilowatts, it offers only Porsche with 245 kilowatts of power and 440 newton meters. The charge by riemengetriebenem compressor means two things. By the power requirements of the compressor in this technique, the fuel consumption in comparison with an equally strong engine with a turbocharger is not quite as high. However ensures the compressor in the lower speed ranges for much more agility. "We use the electric motor and the battery capacity for mainly electric starting and steady cruising at higher speeds," says Dr.-Ing. Michael Head, Project Manager for the Cayenne Hybrid.

The 38-kilowatt synchronous electric motor from Bosch, together with the clutch only 15 inches long and fits relatively easily between the V6 and the eight-speed torque converter automatic by Aisin. This configuration allows the first three normal modes: conventional drive with a combustion engine, accelerating with combustion engine and electric motor (boosting) and driving with only the electric motor. There is also a control strategy for converting kinetic energy into electrical energy and subsequent storage in the nickel-metal hydride battery (regeneration) by Sanyo and the stop-start function.
Two other modes

The engineers have the Cayenne Hybrid but still planted two additional modes that make up the majority of the approximately 2.5 liters less fuel consumption compared to conventional Cayenne with VR6 engine: the load point shift modes and sailing. When the load point of the V6 engine, for example, is used not only for propulsion, it also simultaneously charges the battery. This higher load, he works in map areas that are more fuel efficient.

Solely by the load point displacement and further optimization of engine measures implemented 44 percent of under Porsche Cayenne Hybrid (8.9 liters per 100 kilometers, 210 grams of CO2 per kilometer) compared to a conventional Cayenne with VR6 engine (12.4 liters, 294 grams CO2) emissions. Other measures include the modern V6 engine, demand-controlled ancillary components, and an eight-speed automatic transmission with torque converter lockup instead of the current six-speed automatic. Using the new dual clutch transmission have been discarded because the automatic transmission, especially when starting with a trailer is better.

Electric driving contributes to an additional 26 percent of under-spending. Porsche concentrates on the electric motor operating mainly on purely electrically powered driving. Less on the supportive boost function during acceleration because the supercharged V6 compressor already has a good torque curve. The Cayenne Hybrid will be driven in large areas with low load demand, or only with the electric motor. In addition, heres the clutch between the combustion engine and electric motor into play. It decouples the engine from the rest anyway dormant drivetrain, preventing unnecessary braking drag torques. The first German production hybrid Mercedes-Benz S 400 is still the way to a rigid engine-transmission connection to the market.

Reactivation of the internal combustion engine in 0.3 seconds

Calls to the driver more torque and the energy storage is exhausted, the combustion engine is in less than 0.3 seconds is coupled to the drive train, and from the electric motor is started. "The sails are phases in the current testbed possible up to a speed of 138 kilometers per hour, to the start of this mode should be extended until at 157 pace," said Head. Overall, the process developed by Bosch hybrid management for the complex control strategy more than 20,000 parameters. For comparison, a conventional motor control comes from with 6,000 parameters.

The introduction of the sail and their expansion phase up to a brisk highway speeds makes sense, since the typical driving profile of the Cayenne contains more intercity and highway routes and smaller urban units with stop-and-go traffic.

The sailing mode, the Cayenne ruled on a splash and sail around Stuttgart already very well when the drivers foot on the accelerator and curbing the flow of traffic as evenly as possible about his death. The reactivation of the engine is almost imperceptible to the driver. The hybrid Cayenne consumed on the average driving profile approximated circuit just over nine liters per kilometer. Remarkably, after all he is about 170 kilograms heavier than his brother, with series six-cylinder. Since the electric motor in addition to the rather moderate power of 38 kW but develops 285 Nm of torque, comply with the performance and acceleration values ​​which the larger V8 engine. This approval, however, the cycle 15 liters of petrol per 100 kilometers, 355 grams of CO2.