As you undoubtedly noticed, the past week or so there's been an eerie quietness permeating through eMercedesBenz, with a grand total of exactly zero stories being published the last eleven days.  The reason?  An unexpected trip with my significant other took me up north to spend time with the family; an event which, when paired with no internet connection, equated to no updates.

But don't worry ladies and gentlemen - I'm back; I'm rejuvenated; I'm ready to rock. To those of you who sent tips: I sincerely appreciate it, and I'm going to do my best to cover all of them.  To everyone else, thanks for reading; you're fantastic; and I love each and every one of you.

Now, on with the stories...

To kick things off, several of you alerted us to the fact that Mercedes' new 2008 SUV lineup has been added to MBUSA.com (as well as Mercedes-Benz Canada).  Two notable changes to the U.S. sport ute lineup include the addition of the above-pictured GL550, a  model which in addition to boasting a more powerful V8 also sports a larger, even more attractive grille; while the second highlight is the change in the R-Class family (primarily, the disappearance of the R500/R63 AMG models; slightly updated styling; and the addition of a 2WD R350 variant).

Pricing, the "Build Your Own" function and the full list of tech specs are available for all models, so if you're in the market for a new SUV, there's plenty to keep you occupied.  To learn more, head straight to MBUSA's SUV Overview page for the full lineup of 2008 models.

And to Derek, Jordan, June and Blair:  thanks to each of you for the tip; we sincerely appreciate it.