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2015 Mercedes-Benz ML400 Quick Spin

Mercedes-Benz has taken a risk in its quest to downsize its engine range. For 2015, the brand's popular M-Class five-passenger CUV did away with its trusty 4.4-liter, twin-turbocharged V8, and has replaced it with a 3.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V6. It's no surprise that power is down thanks to this move. Outputs of 402 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque are replaced by 329 hp and 354 lb-ft, but weight is down significantly as well. The new ML400 is nearly 300 pounds lighter than the 4,982-pound ML550. Will that tradeoff be enough to satisfy a buying public that's embraced falling fuel prices by buying bigger and thirstier vehicles? To find out if the blown V6 is a suitable replacement for the twin-turbo V8, we spent a week at the helm of the all-new ML400. Driving Notes This 3.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 is the same engine being offered in the C400 and E400 sedans. Typical of today's turbocharged engines, peak torque is spread lavishly across the rev range, from 1,600 to 4,000 rpm. That's not as generous a spread as the ML550, which offers all its torque between 1,600 and 4,750, but the power on offer is easy to access. Importantly, the new V6 never feels flat-footed or unable to answer our commands. In fact, the ML400 feels even quicker than its six-second sprint to 60 would indicate, although it's not so fast as to challenge the 5.3-second time of the ML550. After a slight and expected bout of turbo lag, the power arrives suddenly and proceeds linearly until just south of the engine's 6,500-rpm redline. The throttle response is soft in Eco mode, as expected, but sharpens up slightly when the fuel-sipping mode is off, where the gas pedal is still easy to modulate. It's a quiet engine, too. Compared to the brawnier exhaust note of the old ML550 or the howling six-cylinder in the BMW X5 xDrive35i, the ML400's note is smooth and refined, befitting of a V6. Its turbocharged nature is instantly noticed, though. Get on the throttle and the 3.0-liter happily hisses its way up the tachometer. But, it's only when you get on the throttle hard that the engine really weighs in. In day-to-day driving and traffic its soundtrack is unobtrusive and relaxed. The EPA rates the ML400's fuel economy at 18-miles-per-gallon city and a 22-mpg on the highway. That's better than the 14 city and 19 highway of the old V8 ML, but it still seems a bit low, especially for the highway figure.

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China's BAIC looks to invest in Daimler

Daimler and Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC) are already intertwined in China. Daimler is a 12-percent shareholder in BAIC Motor, the third largest shareholder in the passenger-car division of BAIC. They have a joint manufacturing venture Beijing Benz in which BAIC is the majority partner by one percent, a sales joint venture Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales Service Co. in which Daimler is the majority partner by one percent, and Daimer says, "BAIC is our most important partner in China." Beijing Benz is ten years old this year. They'll become even closer if talks between the two concerning BAIC taking "a major stake" in the German conglomerate come to anything. Reuters reports that the two are in talks now, with BAIC Chairman Xu Heyi saying it should be resolved one way or another by the end of this year. If they agree, the China-based, Hong Kong-listed company will join Renault-Nissan and the Kuwait Investment Authority as Daimler's top shareholders. Some China analysts see a potential Daimler investment as a coup for BAIC, similar to BAIC's 2009 purchase of old Saab platform, engine, and transmission technologies, that would give it access to technologies it wouldn't have to develop on its own and hastening the development of its own cars. A deal is also seen as potentially opening up export possibilities for the Chinese company. Other analysts aren't sure that BAIC would get any useful technology, noting that that last deal between the two gave BAIC the outdated E-Class platform, but none of Mercedes' headline tech. If a deal is done, BAIC will join Dongfeng Group and SAIC as Chinese automaker investors in western automotive companies.