Top billing has to go to the magnificent SLR McLaren 722 Edition, named for the starting number of the 300 SLR famously driven to victory by Stirling Moss in the 1955 Mille Miglia race.

The new car was enthusiastically introduced by the great man himself. “This is a car that has the class to carry the 722 number… I hope people get as much pleasure from this car as I did [from 722],” he said.

With around 300 changed components, special badging and uprated power compared even to the supercar-level ‘standard’ SLR McLaren, the 722 Edition will be limited to a production run of 150 cars. Each one will be largely hand built at the McLaren headquarters near to Woking in southern England. With 650bhp and a 0-62mph (0-100km/h) time of 3.6 seconds, this is a car offering truly extraordinary performance.

It’s almost enough to make the other new models seem ordinary. The range-topping CL63 AMG and S63 AMG are both powered by the same new 6.3-litre V8 engine producing 525bhp and 630Nm of torque, and they enjoy many other AMG tweaks including revised body and styling, uprated brakes, light-alloy wheels and special interiors.

Elsewhere on Mercedes’ extensive stand, the new CL Class is displayed to the general public for the first time, as well as an S-Class limousine fitted with Mercedes’ 4MATIC four-wheel drive system.

Dr Dieter Zetsche, now head of the Mercedes car group, was keen to suggest that the marque has overcome its recent quality wobbles. “E-Class product quality is back at the top level,” he said.

And to try and prove it, the company is going to drive 33 diesel-powered E-Classes from Paris to Beijing, arriving in time for the city’s “AutoChina” motor show in October. The 14,000km (9,000 mile) journey recreates a similar trek undertaken 99 years ago. Three of the 33 cars will have BLUETEC engines – the extra clean diesel technology package that goes on sale in the US in October this year and in a European version in 2008.