This compares favourably as a matter of fact on par with the petrol-driven 6.3-liter (6208cc) V8 powered (571 hp and 650 Nm) SLS that accomplishes the same task in 3.8 seconds. The stats maybe okay for the petrol version but the electric version is as good as its gets (for now anyway).

In a statement, Mercedes-AMG GmbH’s CEO Volker Mornhinweg said, “With the SLS AMG with electric drive, we wanted to redefine the super sports car. For us, it is not just about responsibility. We attach just as much importance to excitement and classic AMG performance.”

I surely believe thay have. Its expected that the car may well be in production by 2011. When it does start commercial  production it will offer fierce competition to Tesla Roadster eV & Lightning GT Electric Sportscar (both already in production phase).

PS: Photos may not  depict the final production version as it has been shielded by the manufacturer & pix are only ‘spy photos’ of the prototype.

Although it may not be virtually unknown outside its ‘native’ Japan it won the 2007 Car of the Year award from the Japanese Automotive Researchers and Journalists Conference (RJC), and two other “Car of the Year” awards, from the Carview Corporation website and the Consumer’s Choice.

It also won the “Most Advanced Technology” Special Achievement Award at the 2006–07 Japan Car of the Year awards, where it was nominated unsuccessfully in the overall Car of the Year category, and ranked first in the Japan Mini-Car APEAL Study published by J.D. Power Asia Pacific in October 2006, with a higher score than any previous winner. Aside from the 2006 Good Design Grand Prix, its style won Design Awards from the Japan Automotive Hall of Fame (JAHFA), and the magazines Popeye and Car Styling.

Even the 2008 Car of the year 2008 Toyota’s iQ although better performance wise & designed by Toyota’s design studio in France pales in comparison to the sleek shape & georgeous look of the “i”. Agreed that microcars or ‘kei’ cars as they are known in Japan are made generally for the ladies &/or ‘sissies’ but offlate the modified versions of Smart Cars having superbike engines have been known to pack quite a muscle (0-100kph in under 3.5seconds.

“i”s breakthrough success with the said market came after a “Hello Kitty” customized “i” was put on display in a large Japanese Department Store for a week in 2007. Other close rivals include Smart Mortor’s fortow & K models, ZAP (zero air pollution), Toyota iQ the proposed Aston Martin-Toyota joint venture Cygnet & Honda’s Insight.

Suzuki has also marketed its own budget version of the smart car known as Suzuki Twin while rounding off the European competition are Mercedes-Benz’s Motsy & Subaru’s R2.

The Hazard: But drowsiness (or tiredness) has nothing much to do with your current state of sleepiness. Sure, it doesn’t help if you have been awake watching re-runs of Punjabi stage shows the previous night, but one can not be too careful when it comes to attentive driving. This is especially true for long-distance driving. (I will give you the keys to my car if you can prove that you fell asleep while driving in one of our cities!)

The hazard is not that you will fall asleep while driving, the hazard is that you will be unable to pay the right amount of attention and get into an accident. This not only endangers your life, but of others on the road as well. Also, your feeling of tiredness not only comes from a bad-night’s sleep but, according to Mercedes press release:

In addition to the lack of a good night’s sleep, one of the most frequent causes of the dangerous phenomenon of nodding off at the wheel is monotony.

I of course, can second that. Nothing lulls you to a good-drive’s sleep than the Motorway at night! And no wonder Mercedes is telling us about this, given that they are set to introduce this great feature (to be rolled out in 2009) called Mercedes Attention Assist. It will, I daringly presume, assist you in paying attention.

The Mercedes Attention Assist: It takes in numerous factors to actually establish that you are tired, and then warns you to take a break. The values recorded by the system not only include the speed and the acceleration but also the angle of the steering wheel, the way that the indicators and pedals are used,

How Mercedes does it

certain driver control actions and various external influences such as a side wind or an uneven road surface. Observation of the steering behavior is particularly significant: tired drivers can be spotted by a series of typical steering wheel movements which they then immediately correct. The new Mercedes assistance system recognizes signs such as these; if the driver’s steering behavior changes and other indicators also point towards encroaching tiredness, the system outputs a warning at an early stage. A warning signal sounds and a symbol in the instrument cluster advises the driver to take a break.

Huh? Warns us to take a break? I know when I am tired, trust me. I don’t take a break not because I am unaware of my tiredness, but because I foolishly think that I can ‘make it’. I think that it is OK and there is no serious hazard to me or to the inhabitants of my car or the pedestrians etc. It is this thinking that gets us into trouble.

But optimistically speaking, it might take that one last signal from the car I am driving to convince to actually stop to take a break and refresh myself.

Car Technology & Car Safety in Pakistan: As car technology evolves, we get to see decent-sized efforts to make the cars safer. After the technology comes out, this takes another gazillion years to reach the Pakistani markets, which is nothing short of pathetic. If you have an air bag on your car’s steering wheel, that’s a good start (majority of the cars being produced in Pakistan fail miserably at safety; some models of cars as famous as Cultus come without even a freakin’ seat belt! Beat that!)

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Mercedes Attention Assist via Engadget (LINK)