2011 Mercedes Gl350 Bluetec,navig,rear Dvds,1 Owner-car-fax Certified,low Resv!! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Ferrari hails Vettel as the 'moral winner' after 'stolen' F1 race

MONTREAL — Ferrari hailed Sebastian Vettel as the moral winner of the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday while the German raged at being robbed of victory by race stewards. "They are stealing the race from us," the angry German exclaimed over the team radio as he was told he was under investigation after running off the track and into the path of Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton. Vettel was given a five-second penalty, finishing first but having to hand victory to Hamilton. "No, no, no. Not like that. You have to be an absolute blind man, you go on the grass how are you supposed to control your car? This is the wrong world," the Ferrari driver yelled after being notified of the penalty. "It's not making our sport popular, is it? I mean, with these kind of decisions," he told Sky Sports television after the podium ceremony. He had earlier parked up in the wrong place and stormed straight to the Ferrari hospitality area before returning to the pitlane. There he rearranged the numbers in front of the cars, switching the 'one' board from Hamilton's car to the space where his Ferrari should have been. "If it had happened to me I would have kicked the damn board and thrown it against the car," said Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff, whose team has now won the first seven races of the season. "I am of course biased for Mercedes, and I say there is a rule that says you need to leave a car's width when you go off the track and I think his instinctive reaction was 'I need to protect that position' and maybe that was a tiny bit too far." Wolff said he was surprised by the stewards' decision but also defended them. The officials included experienced Italian racer Emanuele Pirro, a former F1 driver and five times winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours sportscar race. "I think the stewards up there need to be people that need to be supported," said Wolff. "There is Emanuele up there, it doesn't go any more professional and experienced than Emanuele. Said Vettel, "People want to see us race and that was, I think, racing. I hope the people come back, that's the main thing obviously... it's just a shame when we have all these little funny decisions." Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto indicated there could be no appeal by the Italian team but said there was no doubt about the real winner. "It's not down to us to decide, and that's the sport. But certainly if you look at the crowd, everybody I think today believes that there was nothing Sebastian could have done," he said.

Daimler could sell off Li-Tec's EV battery business

Five-plus years may have been about enough time for Daimler AG to know whether it wanted to be in the battery-pack production business. The Mercedes-Benz parent may stop making electric-vehicle batteries and ultimately sell its Li-Tec battery-cell factory in Germany within two years, according to Bloomberg News which cites Manager Magazin. The beneficiary may be LG Electronics, which would likely take over battery-production duties for models such as Daimler's Smart ED battery-electric vehicle. Daimler is taking a number of steps to improve profit margins, which are thinner than those of its German rivals like BMW. Like its German competition, the company has lagged behind companies such as Nissan, Renault and Tesla Motors in terms of aggressively pursuing growth via plug-in vehicle sales. Daimler spokesman Hendrik Sackmann, in an e-mail to AutoblogGreen, would only say that the battery business is growing "rapidly" and that Li-Tec is developing "according to our plans." "Regarding Li-Tec, we are working on a concept for the future line-up," he added. "The battery cells for the successor of the Smart electric drive won't be provided by Li-Tec." Daimler in 2008 launched Li-Tec as a joint venture with Evonik, though Daimler recently put plans together to buy out Evonik's 50-percent share of Li-Tec, Bloomberg reported last month. Evonik's role was manufacturing electrodes and separators for batteries. Daimler also said last fall that it was looking to cooperate more extensively with Tesla in regards to electric vehicle development. The two companies first said they'd work together in 2009. Featured Gallery 2013 Smart Fortwo ED View 16 Photos News Source: Bloomberg NewsImage Credit: Daimler Green Plants/Manufacturing Mercedes-Benz battery

Chris Harris falls in love with Mercedes-AMG GT at Laguna Seca

It's not every day that an automaker goes down a market segment and still comes off as even more ambitious, but that's exactly what Mercedes has done with the new AMG GT. While the SLS was bigger and more expensive, with the new GT, Mercedes has set its sights on one of the most iconic sports cars of all time. That, of course, would be the Porsche 911, and the big question is whether Benz has achieved its target. For the answer, we turn to none other than the Monkey himself – the inimitable Chris Harris, who recently went solo with his own YouTube channel. And for his latest segment, he took the latest German sports car around no less suitable a track than Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.