Mercedes-Benz E550: A plush highway cruiser
NEW YORK -- Poverty is greatly overrated. So is what is construed as "just-folks" normalcy. Both conditions are heralded only by people who don't have access to lots of money. In a word, Paris Hilton is right. It is better to be rich, even if you are not much of anything else. Money at least gives you the opportunity to try to become something better. The theory is crass. But it is nonetheless true, as evidenced by anyone confronted with a choice between driving an economy car or a 2008 Mercedes-Benz...

Mercedes-Benz design chief to retire after 40 years
After a 40 year stint at Mercedes-Benz, 30 years as its official design chief, automotive engineer and designer Peter Pfeiffer is set to retire. Pfeiffer, who turns 65 this year, first joined the carmaker back in 1968 and was promoted to head of design just ten years later. Mercedes is yet to name an official successor but a decision is expected to be announced soon. Most likely to replace Pfeiffer is Gorden Wagener, the current president of Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design of North America. Wagener has...

2009 Mercedes-Benz A-Class facelift
Earlier this month Mercedes-Benz took the covers off its facelited B-Class range and now we have first details about the 2009 model year update for the smaller A-Class. Due for release in the second half of the year, the new A-Class gets a slightly revised look, a revamped interior and a cleaner engine range. New to range is fuel saving engine stop-start technology for the volume A150 and A170 models as well as the addition of an ultra-frugal A150 BlueEfficiency model, which gets by on just 5.8L of...

Update: 2009 Mercedes-Benz A-Class official details
Earlier this month Mercedes-Benz took the covers off its facelited B-Class range and now we have first details about the 2009 model year update for the smaller A-Class. Due for release in the second half of the year, the new A-Class gets a slightly revised look, a revamped interior and a cleaner engine range. New to range is fuel saving engine stop-start technology for the volume A150 and A170 models as well as the addition of an ultra-frugal A150 BlueEfficiency model, which gets by on just 5.8L of...

Rendered Speculation: Mercedes-Benz CLE four-door coupe
Mercedes jump-started a new trend of four-door coupes with the CLS. But after several years of having the niche market to itself, the German automaker is bracing for an onslaught of competition, from above and from below. While the Porsche Panamera and Aston Martin Rapide attempt to take the four-door coupe formula even farther upmarket, Volkswagen has launched its assault by undercutting the CLS with the new CC until now known as the Passat CC. If the reports are to be believed, it's the latter that...

Rendered Speculation: Mercedes-Benz CLE four-door coupe
Mercedes jump-started a new trend of four-door coupes with the CLS. But after several years of having the niche market to itself, the German automaker is bracing for an onslaught of competition, from above and from below. While the Porsche Panamera and Aston Martin Rapide attempt to take the four-door coupe formula even farther upmarket, Volkswagen has launched its assault by undercutting the CLS with the new CC until now known as the Passat CC. If the reports are to be believed, it's the latter that...

Rendered Speculation: Mercedes-Benz CLE four-door coupe
Mercedes jump-started a new trend of four-door coupes with the CLS. But after several years of having the niche market to itself, the German automaker is bracing for an onslaught of competition, from above and from below. While the Porsche Panamera and Aston Martin Rapide attempt to take the four-door coupe formula even farther upmarket, Volkswagen has launched its assault by undercutting the CLS with the new CC until now known as the Passat CC. If the reports are to be believed, it's the latter that...

Preview: Mercedes-Benz CLK Shooting Brake
Mercedes-Benz isn’t set to reveal its all-new 2010 CLK until early next year but new reports coming out of Germany claim a ‘shooting brake’ concept version will be on display at the Paris Motor Show this October. The concept, previewed by the rendering above, is said to combine elements of a coupe and hatch and is slated for launch a year after the regular CLK coupe. Mercedes Benz has lost ground in the premium coupe segment against its main rival BMW and its more recent E92 3-series coupe and to...

Spy Shots: 2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class
Mercedes has been expanding its range faster than an invading army, with more three-starred vehicles popping up in segments we didn't even know existed previously. Probably because they didn't. What that ultimately means is that, at any given time, Mercedes is preparing a whole slew of new vehicles as each of their lifecycles comes due for replacement. Next up to bat is the E-Class, one of the mainstream staple vehicles in the Mercedes-Benz line-up. As with every successive new E-Class, the latest...

Mercedes-Benz GL450 aces Motor Trend One-Year Road Test
The Gulfstream jet of SUVsWhen Mercedes-Benz announced a new, three-row-seat sport/utility would be built on the second-gen M-Class chassis architecture and that it would replace the mil-spec G-Wagen, one of our editors wrote, "There goes the neighborhood. Mercedes is wimping out by killing off an icon and replacing it with an overwrought station wagon. How could they?"That editor was me. But I'm pleased to advise you that it all came out fine. Continued customer demand garnered the brick-shaped G500...