97-03 Grand Prix A-pillar Gauge Pod Trim W Boost & Battery Gauge on 2040-parts.com

Mercedes wants to help you fall asleep at the wheel

Mercedes Attention Assist will soon get help from Mercedes Active Comfort Mercedes are working on an Active Comfort System to help fatigued drivers take a power nap with aromas and massage inducing sleep. The Mercedes Attention Assist is designed to warn drivers when their driving is becoming a bit erratic as they get tired and lose concentration, with its little coffee cup symbol now proliferating across instrument panels on Mercedes cars. But what if you’re one of those poor unfortunate souls who can’t just pull over and go to sleep for 20 minutes for a quick power nap to recharge your batteries?

Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) starts European sales

The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (pictured) now on sale in Europe The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV landed officially at the Paris Motor Show in 2012 – preceded by a number of concepts before Mistubishi was happy – as a plug-in hybrid from Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi had promised the Outlander PHEV would go on sale in 2013 so, by the skin of their teeth, they’re starting to roll it out in European markets with the Netherlands up first followed by the Nordic countries – and the UK somewhere down the list. With 12,000 orders for the Outlander PHEV in Europe already, Mitsubishi are assured of a decent level of sales for their PHEV SUV, although those sales are driven by the daft tax breaks on offer for ‘green’ cars more than anything else.

New Mercedes A45 AMG has 105 years of 4WD on its side

With the new Mercedes A45 AMG on the horizon – complete with 4WD – Mercedes chart the history of all wheel drive on their vehicles. We tend to think of 4WD road cars as a modern innovation, and certainly very few 4WD road cars hit the road in a mainstream way much before the 1980s (the Jensen FF was hardly mainstream before someone points out that was in the 1960s). But the history of 4WD goes back, certainly in the case of Mercedes, a surprising 105 years when Daimler built the Dernburg-Wagen, a 4WD vehicle that not only got all-wheel drive but all wheel steering too.