Mercedes Benz

What do you get for the holy man who has everything? If he's Pope Benedict XVI, you get him a new Mercedes-Benz Popemobile. Based on the company's midsize M-Class SUV, the new diamond-white Popemobile replaces an older Mercedes model that had served his holiness since 2002. The automaker has been providing popes their eponymous vehicles since 1930. Photos: All-new Mercedes-Benz Popemobile Mercedes says the new model has an upgraded dome for the Pope to ride in. It features easier access for the 85-year-old pontiff, larger bulletproof glass panels for better visibility and lights in the roof to illuminate the subject below.

A decade after Cadillac first moved to ditch its image as stodgy purveyor of land yachts, General Motors Co.'s luxury brand is now poised to take on the world. It has long overshadowed Lincoln, its domestic luxury rival. Now Cadillac wants to crack into the premium market dominated by German heavyweights BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Key to that strategy is Cadillac's introduction Tuesday of a sleeker, more powerful CTS sedan at the New York International Auto Show, a move to better match up its lineup with the Germans.

Electric car company Tesla Motors Inc. announced a deal to provide the powertrain for a new Mercedes-Benz vehicle, even as it moves closer to manufacturing its own vehicles later this year. The Palo Alto automaker also said Wednesday that it expected revenue to roughly triple this year, when it will begin selling the Tesla Model S sedan, its first ground-up design. The company is about to launch production of the Model S at its factory in Fremont, Calif. For the new Mercedes model, Tesla will provide the battery packs, motor, gearbox, inverter and all related software.

Federal safety regulators have begun a probe of fuel leaks in about 250,000 Mercedes-Benz E-Class cars. The investigation was launched after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Mercedes-Benz received more than 500 complaints from owners about a strong odor of gasoline, mainly after refueling. The NHTSA said fuel may be leaking from the upper part of the gas tank. No fires or injuries have been reported. The investigation includes vehicles from 2003 to 2008 model years.

Federal safety regulators have begun a probe of fuel leaks in about 250,000 Mercedes-Benz E-Class cars. The investigation was launched after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Mercedes-Benz received more than 500 complaints from owners about a strong odor of gasoline, mainly after refueling. The NHTSA said fuel may be leaking from the upper part of the gas tank. No fires or injuries have been reported. The investigation includes vehicles from 2003 to 2008 model years.

Because the extreme version of Mercedes-Benz's current supercar, the gullwinged SLS AMG GT, clearly needs more power and less weight, the company announced Friday that it would be bringing to the 2012 L.A. Auto Show, you know, a faster model. The car is the SLS AMG Black Series. Black Series is to AMG what AMG is to Mercedes. Only four other production models have had a Black Series variant, the most recent being the 2013 C63 AMG. The philosophy is very simple: turn everything up to 11. We love you, Cleveland.

If you have 50 seconds to kill and want to be irritated, call (949) 364-1771 and listen to the Shops at Mission Viejo's telephone recording. "Thank you for calling Simon's, the Shops at Mission Viejo shopping line, sponsored by Mercedes-Benz of Laguna Niguel, the Mercedes-Benz of Mercedes-Benz centers," the chirpy female voice says. "If you would like more information on Mercedes-Benz of Laguna Niguel, press 1 now."

How can you glorify Mike Glickman (Jan. 20)? Will we see a follow-up article about the "hard times" he caused his creditors? The nerve of someone filing for bankruptcy in the millions of dollars, but still giving lavish parties and owning a new Mercedes-Benz. . . . So much for personal responsibility and integrity in the 1990s. JANET MINAMI Woodland Hills

Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner's county-owned car was commandeered at gunpoint by two men in a 1973 red Mercedes-Benz outside Spago as Reiner dined inside the stylish Sunset Strip restaurant Monday night, sheriff's deputies said today. Reiner's driver reported the robbery at 7:55 p.m. Reiner was unaware of it until after the bandits had disappeared with the 1986 blue Buick Park Avenue, a spokesman said.

January-June 1987 Orange Los Angeles Make of Car County Make of Car County DOMESTIC Ford 5,589 Ford 21,315 Chevrolet 4,062 Chevrolet 16,688 Oldsmobile 2,352 Oldsmobile 7,734 Pontiac 1,831 Cadillac 6,220 Cadillac 1,707 Chrysler 5,656 Buick 1,621 Buick 5,408 Mercury 1,615 Pontiac 5,344 Dodge 1,219 Mercury 4,263 Chrysler 1,106 Dodge 3,762 Plymouth 997 Lincoln 2,965 Lincoln 781 Plymouth 2,799 AMC 109 AMC 371 IMPORTS Honda 6,160 Toyota 18,133 Toyota 6,071 Honda 17,610 Nissan 5,472 Nissan 15,400

One of Lincoln's two Super Bowl commercials airing on Sunday involves Jimmy Fallon, Rev. Run of Run-DMC, viewer-generated tweets, Emmitt Smith and Wil Wheaton. One does not. And that's the good one. The first ad is the result of a much-publicized campaign the automaker undertook in collaboration with comedian and late-night host Fallon. Dubbed SteerTheScript, Fallon's Twitter followers were asked to submit stories from their most memorable road trips. More than 6,000 tweets were submitted, Lincoln said.

This week saw a homecoming of sorts for Mercedes-Benz's AMG performance division. In 2012, California accounted for more than a third of all AMG sales in the U.S. So the German automaker brought nearly its entire 2013 AMG lineup to Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond to show off to the media. Notable among all the machinery were two of the fastest models in the AMG lineup: the 2013 SLS AMG GT coupe and roadster, and the already-sold-out C63 AMG Black Series Coupe. Examples of these cars were available for track testing, while the rest of AMG's lineup was limited to street drives.

The Ford Edge, which generally has garnered good reviews as a comfortable and affordable crossover vehicle, is at the top of this year's list of the cheapest cars to insure. The SE model of the Edge beat out some 750 vehicles reviewed by the price-comparison site Insure.com for the 2013 model year. Crossovers and sport-utility vehicles dominated as the least expensive vehicles to insure - including models from Kia, Hyundai and Chrysler's Jeep brand - highlighting a shift away from minivans as the go-to vehicle for families.

In a key sign of a stronger economy, automakers posted a strong December to cap off the industry's best annual U.S. sales since 2007. The strong sales - Nissan, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Subaru, Audi and Porsche all set annual U.S. sales records - led several encouraging economic reports out Thursday. The private sector grew by 215,000 jobs in December, boosted by solid gains in construction, professional services and trade and transportation, according to Automatic Data Processing.

What fiscal cliff? Luxury cars are flying out of U.S. showrooms this month, helped by a blitz of advertising and optimism among consumers eager to treat themselves to a fancy set of wheels. Car buyers appear "unfazed by the current level of economic uncertainty generated by the fiscal cliff negotiations," said John Humphrey, senior vice president of global automotive operations at J.D. Power. Sales of expensive cars are on track to have their best month in many years, he said. High-end cars will account for 16% of retail vehicles sold in December, an increase from 15.3% in November 2012 and 14.8% in December 2011, according to J.D. Power.

Automakers are vying to win various annual sales crowns while dealerships are trying to achieve both year-end and month-end goals, a confluence of events that's good for car shoppers, said auto analyst Tom Libby of R.L. Polk & Co. That's why the airwaves and weekend newspaper ads are stuffed with year-end deals for new cars. Libby said that employees at dealerships and the sales staffs at manufacturers are compensated in part on whether they achieve year-end sales objectives as well as December goals, "which in effect doubles the pressure to sell new vehicles," Libby said.

Thanks for the Porsche review ("The $54,000 Question," June 12). The exotics are always the most interesting. I owned a 1988 Porsche 944 before the combination of high insurance and maintenance flattened me like pea gravel. Automotive writer Paul Dean didn't mention one of the other reasons Porsche sales have gone down so badly: Insurers hate insuring Porsches and Corvettes. Carriers are afraid to insure these cars, even though a $40,000 Porsche has the same value as a $40,000 Mercedes-Benz.

What do you get for the holy man who has everything? If he's Pope Benedict XVI, you get him a new Mercedes-Benz Popemobile. Based on the company's midsize M-Class SUV, the new diamond-white Popemobile replaces an older Mercedes model that had served his holiness since 2002. The automaker has been providing popes their eponymous vehicles since 1930. Photos: All-new Mercedes-Benz Popemobile Mercedes says the new model has an upgraded dome for the Pope to ride in. It features easier access for the 85-year-old pontiff, larger bulletproof glass panels for better visibility and lights in the roof to illuminate the subject below.

Mercedes-Benz will be one of several automakers using the upcoming Los Angeles Auto Show to look into not only the near future, but also the more distant horizon. Such is the philosophy behind the automakerÂ"s 2025 Ener-G-Force concept SUV. Named like a Monster energy drink, it was conceived as a reinterpretation of the old-school G-Class SUV that Mercedes has been selling since 1979. Design elements like turning signals and running lights mounted on top of the fenders and a distinct three-piece greenhouse pay homage to the current SUV that Mercedes deems iconic.