4×4 Version of Mercedes G63 AMG 6×6 Confirmed, Will Be Way Cooler than You Even Think

Australian car site caradvice.com.au is reporting that the 4×4 version of the six-wheeled G63 6×6 is a go for production. If you think a 4×4 variant of the G63 6×6 would simply be, well, a typical G63 AMG, peep out the spy photos of this particular G-wagen. It's a whole new bag.

Indeed, while the G63 AMG you or anyone else who's comfortably wealthy can go out and buy has four-wheel drive, it still rides on street-oriented tires and a relatively conventional suspension and chassis for a giant, decades-old refrigerator–like SUV. A 6×6-derived G63 would replace that street gear with burly off-road stuff more in touch with the G-class's military roots.

Like the 6×6 (pictured here in its element), the G63 4×4, as we assume it'll be called, would utilize a raised suspension, gigantic all-terrain tires, and the 6×6's portal axles, which use gearsets at each wheel to allow for hub centerlines below those of the axles for better ground clearance.

But why wouldn't someone seeking an off-road-oriented G simply look to the non-AMG G550? If you must ask that question, clearly you don't understand the G-class. It might seem thick to those of us who don't wipe our undercarriages with cash, but a G63 4×4 not only offers more horsepower than the G550, but more tire and more capability. It'll force craggy trails into submission all while announcing that its owner is both someone to loathe and deeply envy at the same time. It also allows those folks to acquire the 6×6's abilities in a package more suited to driving in traffic or paved roads.

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That concept of more is what made the 6×6 a reality for civilian buyers, and it's what will allow Benz to charge probably $200,000 or more for the version lacking a third axle.

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2015 Lexus RC F Tested: Looks Like Gundam, Moves Like Rerun

Typically, when full-line car companies set out to develop a coupe, they start with a sedan from the current lineup, trim two doors, and rewrap the package in a sleeker body. A shorter wheelbase is optional. Lexus rolled up that memo and burned it before going to work on the RC. Instead, to form its new coupe's structure, Lexus combined the front clip of the GS sedan, the center section of the old IS C convertible, and the rear end of the IS sedan, using adhesives and welding and a fancy technique called laser screw welding, which allows for more frequent tacks and thus greater rigidity. READ MORE ››

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Subaru’s WRX/STi Is Outselling The BRZ and FR-S Twins Combined

Through the first ten months of 2014, Subaru has sold 19,969 copies of their Impreza-based WRX and STi, 996 more than the number of Toyobaru sports cars sold in America this year.

WRX/STi sales are up 35% through the end of October 2014, a 140% increase compared with the full 2010 calendar year, 45% compared with all of 2011, 47% compared with 2012, and 11% compared with all of 2013.

2014, as you know, is not over yet. Subaru USA has been selling just under 2000 WRXs and STis per month.

Year-over-year volume has increased in 24 consecutive months. Nearly three out of every ten Imprezas sold is either a WRX or an STi.

The sports car market may be drying up, but it's not dead yet. Scion, with 12,293 FR-S sales this year, and Subaru, with 6680 BRZ sales, have combined for 18,973 sales in 2014. Yes, that's down 18% from the 23,126 sold in the first ten months of 2013. True, monthly BRZ volume peaked 20 months ago in March 2013. And no, FR-S sales haven't topped 2000 units since the car's first full month on sale, June 2012, and monthly FR-S volume has twice fallen into three-digits this year. Sports cars tend to do this. They surge with early interest and quickly decline with age.

But ignoring the standards set by Detroit muscle – 182,196 Camaro, Mustang, and Challenger sales this year – these are relatively popular cars, given the category in which they compete. Two-doors which sell more often than the FR-S aren't nonexistent (Audi A5, Mini Cooper Hardtop, the three-door Hyundai Veloster, Volkswagen's Beetle, the Chevrolet Corvette, Fiat 500, and the aforementioned trio), nor are they direct rivals for the Toyobaru twins.

Other places for sport compact-like money? Unfortunately, automakers don't routinely release specific sales figures for models like the Civic Si, Focus and Fiesta ST, or Abarth 500s. Sales of the outgoing Mazda MX-5 Miata are down 20% to 4143 in 2014. The Volkswagen Golf GTI, however, is up 23% to 13,848 U.S. sales year-to-date.

Yet unlike the Impreza's increasingly popular sporting iterations, the GTI isn't outselling the combined Scion/Subaru pairing. The WRX/STi has done that in five of the last seven months; in seven of the last ten.

In 2013, the FR-S and BRZ combined for 26,914 year-end sales while the WRX/STi duo managed 17,969. In 2014, the coin has been flipped to reveal a very different side.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures.

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2015 Toyota Yaris SE Auto and Manual Tested: Stick or Antique Autobox?

The midcycle refresh is aimed at keeping a vehicle line on shopping lists until the next major makeover. It's often confined to cosmetics, but there are times when the investment would be more effective upgrading elements of the car that are invisible but tangible. READ MORE ››

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Toyota’s LFA Works Now Home To Mirai FCV Production

Remember when Herr Schmitt took us for a TTAC exclusive into the workshop that made the Lexus LFA? It's now the home of the Toyota Mirai.

Automotive News reports Toyota gave its FCV to the LFA Works — located behind the Motomachi plant in Toyota City, Japan — because the facility's attention to detail and better tools (i.e., hands) than any of the more "ultra-efficient," machine-powered factories under the automaker's watch.

Because of the Mirai's hand-built nature — the powertrain and other components are assembled in Toyota's Honsha plant, then brought over to the LFA Works for final assembly — executive vice president for domestic sales Masamoto Maekawa warns supplies will be limited, with only 700 planned for the first year, 200 of which are already on-order:

Each unit is carefully built with utmost care. So therefore, the production volume might be limited. During the initial stages, delivery time might be delayed. The 200 orders are mostly from government and corporate fleets.

Prior to the Mirai, the small workshop made limited-edition models, including a $10,000, 100-unit run of carbon fiber bicycles marketed to well-off Lexus owners, a carbon-fiber roof for special performance variant of the Toyota Mark X, and of course, the 500 LFAs assembled between 2010 and 2012.

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Toyota Recalls 57K Over Takata Airbags

Toyota issued Thursday a global recall of 57,000 vehicles affected by the Takata airbag crisis.

Reuters reports the majority of the vehicles — 40,000 — were sold in the automaker's home market of Japan, while 6,000 are in Europe and the rest scattered around the world excluding the North American market. The models affected are the Vitz/Yaris and the RAV4, and were assembled between December 2002 and March 2004.

Additionally, Toyota subsidiary Daihatsu recalled 27,571 Miras assembled for sale in Japan between December 2002 and May 2003 for the same issue, marking the brand's first Takata-related recall.

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Mercedes Bringing AMG To The Masses With New Line

Is the raw power of the Mercedes-AMG lineup too much, but you still covet the name? The Teutonic marque has something just for you.

An effort to make the sub-brand more accessible to the masses, Mercedes-Benz is introducing the AMG Sport line, which will slot between the restrained main collection and the more brutal AMG portfolio. Mercedes-AMG chair Tobias Moers explains:

The new Sport models represent a convincing proposition for our customers: genuine sports car technology becomes accessible, appealing to an even broader-ranging clientele worldwide. For all our dynamic growth, we remain true to our brand claim of "Driving Performance."

All AMG Sport models will have AWD standard, and will come with more powerful engines and special braking and chassis components, all with the goal of bringing the AMG driving experience to the driver who isn't ready to go all in. The first two models are set to make their debut at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show.

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