Mercedes 2012

The much celebrated German luxury car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz has always offered high quality motoring along with expertly engineered technical automotive design. Mercedes-Benz has always been competitive and had an active racing presence over the years, which has helped with the company's car development and design.

This can still be seen today, with Mercedes having a major role in many areas of motorsport around the world, including the high-profile Formula 1 World Championship and the DTM (or Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters - German Touring Car Masters) race championships, as well as world-renowned races like Le Mans.

Ultimately, Mercedes-Benz is always in pursuit of driving and motoring excellence and that's what can be found across their range of cars. Some of these classic Mercedes-Benz cars past and present are never far from the news and it is easy to see why this occurs.

Recently, an über rare 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing sold at an auction in Arizona for an amazing £2.95 million (or $4,620,000). This was a particularly rare Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing, as it was only one of 29 built with aluminium bodies.

This special, alloy bodied 300 SL Gullwing represented cutting edge technical design at the time of its launch in the early 1950's, as this was a car you could buy in a showroom but was powerful and lightweight compared to its counterparts that were seen on the race track at that time. This was the car that won the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1952.

If you fancy purchasing a 300 SL Gullwing, you could always buy one of the less rare steel bodied models, as there were 1400 made during the time of its production from 1954 - 1957. In recent years, however, these famous Gullwing Mercedes cars have seen auction prices rising substantially and even a steel bodied 300 SL Gullwing will set you back well into a six figure sum.

Mercedes have just unveiled the all-new SL-class Roadster at the prestigious 2012 Detroit Motor Show. The new SL Roadster is a completely new design which features a chassis and body that is almost completely made from aluminium. This means the new SL-class model is up to 140kg lighter than its forerunner, with an added 20% increase of torsional strength. This is sure to improve the car's handling, plus making it quicker off the mark and ultimately faster to the electronically limited top speed of 155mph.

Once again, the S-Class Mercedes-Benz has won the prestigious 'Best Luxury Car' for an astounding seventh consecutive year at the recent 2012 What Car? awards in London. The S-Class managed to beat all of its rivals to the top award, as the Mercedes-Benz S-Class was chosen again for building a quality luxury car whilst retaining good value.