We’re all going to miss the gullwinged beauty that is the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. It was a wonderful throwback to the legendary SL 300, but with modern sophistication and power, great for driving to, and showing up in, just about any place you’d want to be noticed. What made it even cooler was the car’s day job was as the official safety car for Formula 1. Now that the car has ended its production, its run as pack leader for F1 comes to a close, but a new Mercedes, the AMG GT S, steps in as its successor.
Packing the only car with a V8 to hit the track, the AMG GT S has a 4.0-liter twin turbocharged powerplant that produces 510 horsepower, giving it the power to propel to 62 mph in 3.8 seconds from a standstill. It’s also fitted with a modified performance exhaust to blast out its deep V8 baritone bel canto, distinguishing it from the V6’s packed in each race car.
The car has to meet strict requirements set by the FIA, just as any other vehicle on the track. Guiding the grid around the circuit, particularly in response to a hazard, isn,t easy. It has to be able to so at high speeds so that the cars that follow don’t have tire temperature dropping while engine temp rises.
It’s pretty much configured identically to the road going version in this regard, only kitted with a commanding orange light bar and a special safety car livery. The inside sports a video camera, for the broadcast feed, and a set of iPads for the co-driver. These display a live feed of the race while another has information regarding car locations on the track. The AMG GT is also loaded with a host of FIA-specific pack of radio communication equipment, telemetry sensors and more.
We’ll get to see the AMG GT in action in a few short days when it premiers at the Australian Gran Prix Melbourne on March 15th. Hopefully, we’ll only see it during the parade lap.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.