MT CONFIDENTIAL

Have a spare $3.3 million and want the ultimate addition to your toy box? Word out of Newport Pagnell is a handful of the 25 Aston Martin DB5 Goldfinger continuation cars—brand-new James Bond DB5s with functional and faithfully The MRA2 vehicle architecture that underpins the seventh-generation Mercedes-Benz S-Class has been engineered to allow fitment of the 6.0-liter V-12. That’s the good news. The bad news: The V-12 won’t be available in the new S-Class. Only the closely related Mercedes-Maybach will get the V-12, sources in Stuttgart have confirmed. The new Maybach shares most of its hardware with the new S-Class, including the rear-wheel-steering system that will endow the long and extended-wheelbase versions of the car remarkable low-speed maneuverability. However, the exterior will be much more differentiated from its Benz-badged sibling than today’s car. Sheetmetal changes include a six-light greenhouse with a thicker, more formal C-pillar, a unique hood that is 0.75 inch higher at the front and features a pronounced center crease, and a more upright grille with pronounced vertical bars and more chrome. Stuttgart insiders have also confirmed what Mercedes-Benz USA CEO Nicholas Speeks told American dealers in June: The E-Class coupe will be axed in the next three or four years, along with S- and C-Class coupes, as Daimler moves to trim its current 45-model lineup. Cabrio versions of all three are destined for the chop, too. That means the heavy lifting for Mercedes-Benz soft-top aficionados will fall to the all-new 2022 SL, which has been engineered by AMG using the all-aluminum hardware of the GT. The new SL will be soft-top only; AMG engineers are eschewing the weight and complexity of a folding hard top. Although General Motors ended manufacturing in Australia in 2017 and quit the market entirely this year, it appears GM isn’t totally walking away from Down Under. GM confirms it has established a new antipodean business entity—General Motors Special Vehicles—that will, among other things, be responsible for the sale of factory-built right-hand-drive C8 Corvettes to Aussie enthusiasts. GMSV will also continue the work of Holden Special Vehicles in re-engineering the Chevy Silverado 1500 pickup for the Australian market.