Mercedes Concept A: Coming to a shopping centre near you

Mercedes Concept A is off on a Shopping Centre Tour We did think there was a chance that the new 2012 / 2013 Mercedes A Class could make an appearance at the Frankfurt Motor Show, but instead Mercedes concentrated on the new B-Class. And with the next European Motor Show not arriving until Geneva in the Spring, Mercedes has decided it will be a good idea to take the Concept A – the Concept version of the new A-Class – on a tour of UK shopping centres to introduce their new baby to the people who might buy it. So over the course of the next month Mercedes will be trotting off to a shopping centre in each major part of the UK (don’t tell the Welsh – or the Northern Irish), with a visit to Braehead in Glasgow, Arndale in Manchester, Bullring in Birmingham and Westfield in London.

Gorden Wagener on how Mercedes is "moving from a traditional luxury brand to a modern luxury brand"

Mercedes' 'home' design studio in Sindelfingen, Germany is housed in an expansive 30,000-square meter building designed by Renzo Piano. The lobby is unassuming, but we're soon through into what Mercedes' grandly calls 'the Vision Room.' It's here that strategic meetings are held with the firm's board, and where we meet Gorden Wagener, Mercedes' head of design since 2008. It's in the Vision Room that Wagener convinced the Mercedes board of the merits of his overarching design philosophy: 'sensual purity'.

First Ferrari 458 Italia in U.S. auctioned for $530,000 to benefit Haiti

It's one thing to own a Ferrari; it's another to be the first one to own an all-new model. The first 458 Italia was auctioned off on Thursday night for $530,000 in a stunning charity gala held at a Beverly Hills estate that made the Clampett mansion look like the carriage house where the pool boy stayed. Auctioneer David Gooding donated his services and got the ball rolling at $250,000, which was more than the expected MSRP for the car of about $220,000.