While 2009 was a tumultuous year for automakers, the worldwide economic crisis pushed the auto industry into the mainstream automotive media’s spotlight, making big automotive news stories even bigger. And while new products continued to be introduced, they garnered possibly even more attention that ever before. With that in mind, we thought we’d take a look back at some of the Top 10 biggest stories of 2009 for an automaker that didn’t recoil, but continued on, unveiling an all-new version of one of its most important models, delivering a new exotic car to market, promising an electric car in the future… and making some big changes in its motorsports program. That automaker is Mercedes-Benz.

#10 Mercedes Goes Green With New Hybrids
#9 Electric Car Concepts, Electric Investments and Promises of an Electric Supercar
#8 McLaren SLR 722 GT Competes in SPEED World Challenge Series
#7 New Small Premium Model Destined for U.S.
#6 AMG 6.2-Liter V8 Wins Best Performance Engine Award
#5 Mercedes Axes Award-Winning 6.2-Liter V8
#4 Mercedes Announces End of Partnership with McLaren With Debut of SLR Stirling Moss
#3 Mercedes Debuts New Retro-Styled SLS AMG Supercar
#2 Michael Schumacher Returns to Formula 1, in a Mercedes
#1 Mercedes Launches 2010 E-Class, in All its Many Forms