Mercedes SLS AMG Gullwing – the Website

Mercedes has launched a website to promote the SLS AMG Gullwing As well as the pictures we also had the SLS AMG Press Release for those who want every nut and bolt detail put together by Mercedes. But now Mercedes has gone one better, and put up a Mercedes SLS AMG Website (well, a micro-site anyway) so those that are mesmerised by Mercedes’ 21st century recreation of the legendary 300SL can get their fix of all things SLS between now and 2011 when the SLS is likely to hit the roads. The website’s not a proper configurator as such, rather a complete encyclopedia of all things SLS –  from technology to interior – with lots of images and detail.

Toyoda testimony: As automaker grew, safety suffered

Toyota Motor Corp. president Akio Toyoda plans to tell lawmakers on Wednesday that the company regrettably chased growth at the expense of safety in recent years, and he will announce steps to improve Toyota's handling of customer complaints. Toyoda's written testimony to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee says the automaker's priorities “became confused.” “We pursued growth over the speed at which we were able to develop our people and our organization,” Toyoda says.

First Sight: Mercedes-Benz SL

The new high-tech, low weight Mercedes SL roadster receives its official global unveil next week in Detroit but Car Design News got an early peek of the final production car and had a chat with its designers at Mercedes' US advanced design studio in Carlsbad, California back in November. "We want to get back to clean, long-lasting design," director of Mercedes global advanced design and SL project leader, Steffen Kohl told CDN at the exclusive preview of the sixth-generation model. "So the new SL is long, sleek and still full of tension in the feature lines but less wedgy." In a short presentation Kohl felt all SLs became successfully iconic in their times because they followed two key rules – ‘sensuality' and ‘cleanness' – but alluded that the first rule may have been lost in more recent eras.