That's not great, but it's not bad for a car that will seat five in absolute luxury and is clearly aimed at people who are more likely to know the price of a magnum of champagne than the price of a litre of petrol. Plus, there's just the odd piece of cheapskate plastic in the cabin, evidence that Mercedes is cutting costs and, in some cases, quality.Back on the autobahn, Steve and I powered our way on to Stuttgart, at speeds you would never dare approach in Britain. Such arrogant ease at pulling in the horizon is not without its relevance over here, of course. At the 70-90mph speed range at which British S-class owners will cruise, the car is sublimely safe, immensely quiet and hugely unstressed. It almost feels like you're standing still.Which, given the traffic on British motorways, is probably just what you'll be doing Or rather, it would be but for another technical novelty. The S-class is the first car to offer a satellite navigation system which takes into account traffic conditions.
After all, what's the point in having the best car in the world if you can't use it?Mercedes-Benz S500Price: About pounds 68,400 (UK sales start in March).Engine: V8, 4966cc, 306bhp at 5600rpm.Performance: Top speed 156mph (governed) Acceleration 0-60mph in 6.2 seconds Average fuel economy 21.0mpg.RIVALSBMW 750i: pounds 69,920 Great car, but lacks that final finesse of the S- class Also, a very thirsty vehicle.Daimler V8: pounds 52,575. Tinselled Jaguar XJ8 is big on style and has a fabulous V8 engine, but lacks the refinement of the Mercedes.Lexus LS400: pounds 49,975 Dull looks mask huge capability. If you can't quite afford an S-class, it's the next best choice.Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph: pounds 155,000 A mobile palace, but can't match the Benz's abilities.. WELCOME TO the 1998 British International Motor Show - the People's Motor Show If only.
Most of the time, it is an inter-manufacturer preening contest at which they can all decide who has the slickest concept car, the best new model launch and the largest stand. Even the cars themselves are there only to tickle the interest of a company fleet manager looking to replace 3,000 hatchbacks, or a middle- ranking executive with an pounds 18,000 "user/chooser" budget. New cars are expensive and the private buyer will not get a 40 per cent discount, as the fleet-buyer does. Adidas plans to keep investing in training-shoe research."People first started saying that trainers were dead around the middle of this year," says Johnny Davis, associate editor at The Face. "That was because of the return of Wallabies and Clarks [popularised by The Verve and Oasis]. They know that spoils in the trainer war are still considerable They also know that the downturn has happened before Three years ago, everybody got into Timberland boots. The trade called it the "brown shoe phenomenon" - a sudden fashion switch away from trainers to variations on work boots by brands such as Rockport and Caterpillar. It's a recognised cycle in the footwear market that just happened to coincide with the start of Nike's downturn.
Just Do It just wasn't doing it any more.One of the things helping Adidas right now is that it's not Nike. Unsurprisingly, the people at Adidas insist that reports of the death of the trainer have been greatly exaggerated. Nike's very success is starting to count against it: what cool kid wants a new pair of Nikes if that's what his dad or, worse, his grandma, is wearing? When Nike's profits and share prices tumbled in the spring, headlines declared that the $8bn (pounds 5bn) wholesale domestic American sports- shoe market was witnessing a glut of product, and a uniformity of marketing strategy. Some style experts may say trainers are dead, but from the look of this Adidas laboratory, they will be dragged around the nine circles of Hell first. Trainers still constitute 40 per cent of total shoe sales in the United States, and Nike is the largest shoe manufacturer in the world But analysts are talking about market saturation. From a computer terminal she instructs a steel arm to scrape them across asphalt, Astroturf and linoleum - all in the name of calculating their "friction coalition".