2013 Mercedes-benz Sl-class Sl550 “edition 1″ on 2040-cars

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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.

2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA250 Sport

Mercedes Makes A Mighty Little Sedan
We got overexcited when the W203 Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan came out in 2001, calling it the "Baby Benz" when it really wasn't. We knew that, too, but our enthusiasm for a model more like the old 190 of the '80s was so strong that we were willing to stretch the first-gen C-Class to fit that mold. Today, the C-Class has done what all German premium cars do: grown in size. In this case, grown to satisfy the market intentions of the previous E-Class.
There was the tall A-Class sold from 1998 through 2010, but we never considered that a serious small Benz in the proper spirit, nor was it ever offered in the US. Regardless, we've been craving a smaller, premium, sexy sedan all the while.

Mercedes-Benz pickup could come to US

Mercedes-Benz USA CEO Steve Cannon says the brand has until the end of the year to decide whether to bring its upcoming midsize pickup truck to the United States. "We said to Stuttgart, 'We are open, and let us assess the market.' If that leads to us saying 'green light,' then we will bring it," Cannon said to Automotive News. Mercedes-Benz Vans is leading the pickup's development, and the company's official announcement said the truck's intended markets are Latin America, South Africa, Australia and Europe. The vehicle is expected to launch by 2020. The company might take advantage of some of Nissan's truck expertise on the project, but that's not decided yet, according to Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn. However, if the Mercedes pickup makes it to the US, it wouldn't be the same utility-oriented model as for the rest of the world. Instead, Cannon indicates that the truck would be adapted to fill a more luxurious role in the lineup and wouldn't be limited to dealers that sell vans. "For a Mercedes-Benz household that has a lot of stuff or a lot of kids or they want to tow the boat - we could offer something to customers who are already luxury-predisposed," he said to Automotive News. Keep in mind none of this is set in stone, and Mercedes doesn't have to offer the model here because "officially it was approved without US volume," Cannon said to Automotive News. He thinks the truck would be a niche vehicle and sales might only be around 10,000 units a year. With pickups among the leading segments in transactions over $50,000 in the US, the market could still be the right fit for the traditionally high-end German brand. Related Video: