Mercedes-Benz shook up the world of Formula One today when it announced that Lewis Hamilton, the most sought after free agent driver in the sport, would join Mercedes next year.

FORBES: Lewis Hamilton In And Michael Schumacher Out At Mercedes

World class car companies like Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen, Nissan, Hyundai, and BMW, have moved to the region.

FORBES: Move up http://i.forbesimg.com t Move down

Luxury carmakers BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz all watched their sales rise by double digits world-wide during the same period.

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The new company would have an impressive range of models: Daimler's car-making division, Mercedes-Benz, produces the best luxury cars in the world, plus some innovative small ones just coming to market and several untried commercial ventures.

ECONOMIST: A new kind of car company

Occasionally the threat lay in that buzzword of today, globalisation, and its concomitant demand for greater scale: Chrysler merged with Daimler-Benz because, even as number three in the world's largest car market, it was too small to prosper alone.

ECONOMIST: How mergers go wrong

But as the problem child acquired by Daimler-Benz in 1998 has started to make its own way in the world, its parent has run into difficulties.

ECONOMIST: Dazzled by the rising sun | The

This morning at the official launch of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, Michael Bloomberg claimed New York as the fashion capital of the world.

FORBES: Bloomberg Declares New York City the Capital of Fashion