Mercedes CLS Grand Edition news - Grab a Grand - 2009

It's usually easy to know who's responsible when a German car gets bigger wheels and a whole load more power.

The aftermarket tuners. But not this time. This is the CLS Grand Edition - a limited edition of Merc's lovely big four-door - and it's the work of the guys at Mercedes themselves.

Based on the CLS 320 CDI, the power of the V6 diesel has been boosted from 224bhp to 272bhp, with an extra 37lb ft of torque for good measure.

That means it'll hit 60mph in 6.5 seconds, a full half-second quicker than the stock CLS, though consumption and CO2 emissions remain unchanged at 37.2mpg and 215g/km respectively.

Those 18-inch wheels have been borrowed from AMG, and there's a load of badging strewn over the car to remind passers-by that this just isn't Any Old CLS.

The CLS Grand Edition will be limited to a strangely precise run of 560 cars, at a price of £48,445.

Next on the Merc engineers' to-do list: blinging out a G-Wagen with 600bhp V8 and a big body kit. Oh, hang on...