Mor-ryde Pin Box System Rpb72-ab34-05 on 2040-parts.com

New Mercedes SLS planned – & it won’t be a hybrid

AMG’s Tobias Moers has confirmed that a new Mercedes SLS is planned – as is a sub-SLS SLC – but it won’t come with hybrid power and electric assistance. But the Mercedes take on a supercar – the Mercedes SLS – isn’t set to go down the KERS route ant time soon according to AMG’s Director of Vehicle Development, Tobias Moers, who said that a next generation SLS – which is under development – would rely on weight saving and engine tweaking, just like the new Mercedes SLS AMG Black Series (pictured above), rather than electric assistance for its performance. Moers also said that Mercedes and AMG realised that the AMG brand doesn’t have the cachet of Ferrari and they have no plans to produce a car to go head to head with LaFerrari (or even the McLaren P1) so we won’t be seeing a hyper-SLS pushed upmarket in to the firing line of Ferrari any time soon.

Jesse James brings hydrogen land-speed record back to America

Six years after he got the idea and bought the streamliner, Jesse James has set the world record for hydrogen-powered speed. Late afternoon on June 16, James flew across the windswept dust of El Mirage dry lake bed in the California desert and tripped the lights at 199.712 mph. That was 14 mph faster than the previous record of 185 mph, set in Germany by BMW in its hydrogen-powered H2H.

Audi, Honda, Hyundai, and GM to bring Android to cars

General Motors, Audi, Honda and Hyundai have joined forces with Google and Nvidia to form the Open Automotive Alliance (OAA), their overarching goal being the integration of Google's Android software into automotive infotainment systems. The OAA will use Android's open development model to bring a greater variety of functions to car infotainment systems, which have noticeably lagged behind smartphones when it comes to capability due to long development periods, fast changing technology, and a glut variety of incompatible systems. The alliance's first order of business will be to develop new Android platform features to enable the car to become a connected Android device.