2011 Mercedes-benz Ml350 Bluetec, 29k Miles, Clean Carafax, Warranty Till 2015 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2016 Malaysian Grand Prix recap: Surprises and missed opportunities

Mercedes-AMG Petronas pilot Lewis Hamilton drove so well in the run-up to the Malaysian Grand Prix that he said before the race, "Honestly, I don't feel anything is going to stop us." On Sunday, the Sepang race showed what it thought of plans and predictions. Heading into the right-hand Turn 1, Sebastian Vettel practically recreated the dust-up at the Belgian Grand Prix three races ago. When Mercedes' Nico Rosberg swept across from the outside line toward the apex, Red Bull's Max Verstappen had to jink right to avoid, touching Vettel's Ferrari on the inside. Vettel speared straight on and hit Rosberg. Vettel's left front suspension broke, ending his race. Rosberg spun and got moving again, but at the back of the pack. That appeared to put Hamilton on a clear run to the checkered flag. His car looked perfect, his pace was perfect, he easily kept Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Verstappen behind. A result that would have seen Hamilton retake control of the Driver's Championship – at Petronas' home race – got crushed on Lap 41 when Hamilton's engine blew down the main straight. That put Ricciardo in the lead, followed closely by his teammate. Just two laps before Hamilton's exit, Ricciardo and Verstappen had battled for second place with some of the best driving we've seen all season. Ricciardo drove as if exorcising the demons of missed opportunities earlier in the year, keeping the young Dutchman behind. The two Red Bulls took the flag fifteen laps later in that order, clocking the first one-two finish for a team other than Mercedes since 2014. It's Red Bull's first one-two since Brazil 2013, when Vettel and Mark Weber took the top steps at the last race of the V8 era. Rosberg recovered to take third in spite of a ten-second penalty for an optimistic pass on Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn crossed the line 12 seconds later, followed by Valtteri Bottas in the Williams and Sergio Perez in the Force India. In another Belgium repeat, Fernando Alonso drove from the back of the grid to finish seventh. Nico Hulkenberg secured eighth, Jenson Button ninth for McLaren in his 300th grand prix, and rookie Jolyon Palmer scored his first point of the season for Renault in tenth. The issue to trump all others from now until next week's Japanese Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton's terrible luck with engines. Power unit gremlins earlier this season helped drop the Brit to 43 points behind Rosberg after the Russian Grand Prix.

Mercedes giving SL a nose job

Mercedes tends to keep its SL roadster around longer than most models. The previous fifth-generation machine was launched in 2001, underwent a facelift in 2009 and stuck around until 2012. That's when the current model was introduced, and before it's replaced, Benz is expected to roll out another facelifted version. And that seems to be exactly what we're looking at here. Expected to arrive sometime in 2016 as a 2017 model, the updated SL will likely feature revised styling front and rear (along with updated interior equipment). This prototype appears to be wearing headlights from the new S-Class Coupe, which don't fit precisely, but then Daimler still has a couple of years to get everything just right.

Daimler relocating North American headquarters to Michigan

While Mercedes-Benz is moving its American headquarters from New Jersey to Georgia, its parent company Daimler is also relocating from the Garden State. But rather than join its automotive unit down south, Daimler North America is moving to Michigan. The relocation was announced by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder while visiting the Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany this week, and has been confirmed by Daimler in correspondence with Autoblog. Daimler's North American headquarters are currently located in Park Ridge, NJ, a mere five-minute drive from Montvale where Mercedes-Benz USA has been based prior to its move to Georgia. The relocation will see Daimler's North American head office move into the facility that currently houses the company's financial services division in Farmington Hills, MI. The move will bring 30 jobs to Michigan, and is slated to commence in 2016 and conclude "sometime in 2017," according to the company. Now if you're wondering why Daimler is going to Michigan while Mercedes is going to Georgia, bear in mind that a number of Daimler's facilities are already located in the Great Lakes State. In addition to the financial services office, Daimler also operates an R&D facility in Ann Arbor. It also owns Redford-based Detroit Diesel, where the photo above was taken during President Obama's visit in December 2012. Along with the Daimler facility, the governor's office also announced the opening of a new Michigan Europe Center that will seek "to promote trade and export development between the state and European markets." The center will also operate satellites in London and Berlin in order to further its mission on behalf of small- and medium-sized businesses based in Michigan, of which we can expect many will come from the automotive sector. Gov. Snyder in Germany: Daimler North America moving headquarters to Michigan State opens Michigan Europe Center to promote trade and investment Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015 FRANKFURT – Daimler North America Corporation, the holding company for all of the company's business units in the United States, will move its headquarters to Michigan from New Jersey, Gov. Rick Snyder announced as he completed an investment mission trip to Japan and Germany. "Michigan is the world's automotive leader, and Daimler's decision to increase its presence in state is another indication that we intend to hold that position for generations to come," Snyder said.