2010 Mercedes-benz Slk350 Convertible Cpo on 2040-cars

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2015 Spanish F1 Grand Prix makes its Deutsche mark

The first race of the European Formula One season inaugurates the second phase of the Championship. Teams overhaul their cars with the big updates they've been working on since Australia, and at the end of The Battle of Spain we find out how the positions on the field have changed. Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver Nico Rosberg brought a big update to his psychology, straight-up beating teammate Lewis Hamilton to take his first pole position of the season. Mercedes owns the front row and Ferrari maintains its status as primary challenger, Sebastian Vettel lining up in third. Williams proved it's been hitting the books to do better in class, though, Valtteri Bottas slotting into fourth. And Toro Rosso's visit to a track that rewards strong aero rewarded them with the best team grid position since the Italian Grand Prix in 2008: Carlos Sainz secured fifth, ahead of Max Verstappen in sixth. Kimi Raikkonen's bout of Saturday woes – it seems the Finn is always handicapped by lots of tiny issues – continued in Barcelona with one of his sets of prime tires getting cooked by malfunctioning tire warmers. He recovered well enough to take seventh on the grid, but he's got some strong competition ahead of him. He led three other drivers in the Continuous Issues department, Daniil Kvyat unable to wrestle his Infiniti Red Bull Racing higher than eighth, Williams driver Felipe Massa getting it wrong in Turn 3 to fall five places behind his teammate Bottas, and Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull enduring another engine change and sloppy car behavior to get tenth. And while it turned out to be a steady race a little rough around the edges, the positions on the battlefield just might have changed. A little. Of the 66 laps in the race we might have seen Rosberg for three of them – maybe. The German got a smashing start, had a clear lead into Turn 1, and after that we checked in occasionally during his two pit stops and again at the checkered flag. He owned the entire weekend the way we're used to seeing his teammate do, and the cameras left him alone to run his race. No one got within seven seconds of him during the first third, and as the pit stop strategies played out that cushion grew. He finished seventeen seconds ahead of Hamilton, and 45 seconds ahead of third-placed Vettel. Hamilton, on the back foot all three days, stumbled out of the gate.

Recharge Wrap-up: Cool new Euro VI railroader Unimog, Car2go hearts charity

Mercedes-Benz's mega-cool road-railer Unimog now boasts Euro VI compliance. Used for railroad track maintenance and train shunting work, this diesel-powered Unimog offers about a 90-percent improvement in particulate emissions over the Euro V. The new engine also offers improved efficiency. It provides 231 horsepower, and with eight forward and eight reverse gears, it can travel up to 31 miles per hour in either direction. It also has new in-cabin features that make it easier to use for the driver. Read more about the new road-railer Unimog in the press release below. Carsharing group Car2go has launched a donation feature within its mobile app, called "ride2provide." The feature lets users find "heart cars," which, when used, include a $1 donation to Whole Planet Foundation. The money raised by the ride2provide program goes towards the Whole Planet Foundation's mission of providing microcredit to the poor for creating or expanding home-based businesses. Car2go's ride2provide program started August 4, and runs for 90 days. Learn more in the press release below. China continues to pave the way for more EVs, but some people are still skeptical they'll catch on. Charging station operators will be forgiven some of their electricity fees until 2020, said the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). China has already extended tax exemptions on EVs through 2017. The NDRC is also urging local governments to offer subsidies and free charging. Still, the costs involved with installing chargers are keeping many from doing it, and many consumers are hesitant to become early adopters of EVs. Read more at ECNS. car2go Launches "ride2provide" To Help car2go Communities To Work Together To Give Back "ride2provide" To Be Integrated via car2go Mobile App Beginning August 4th car2go To Donate To Whole Planet Foundation® As Program's First Exclusive Charity car2go North America LLC, the fastest-growing global carsharing company, announced that it has launched "ride2provide," a donation feature to be integrated into the car2go mobile app for iPhone and android iOS beginning today, August 4th. The new initiative seeks to help car2go communities across its 15 locations and over 400,000 members in North America to work together in donating to a charitable cause, and will first kick off with a 90-day partnership with Whole Planet Foundation as the program's first exclusive charity.

Mercedes C-Class Coupe due to go on sale next December

While we expect to see the coming Mercedes C-Class convertible sometime next year, perhaps at the Paris Motor Show, Auto Motor und Sport reports that the C-Class Coupe will go on sale in December 2015 (probably in Europe first) - it's possible we'll see it debuted at the same time as the cabrio. The German magazine says the two-door will have sharper lines on a body that is four inches longer, almost two inches wider and a fraction of an inch lower than the sedan, dimensional aggrandizement that will be put to good effect on the AMG version coming in 2016. We'll have to wait for information on powertrains, which should hew to the sedan's lineup in addition to whatever else M-B might bring over here, topped off by the 503-horsepower, twin-turbo V8 in the AMG variant. Speaking of which, the 'last-generation' C63 AMG Coupe is still on sale until spring of next year, if you're a fan of the classics. Or you can wait on news of the C-Class four-door coupe, if niches inside of niches are what you're really after.