Mercedes Benz will be launching its first hybrid, the S400 BlueHybrid next spring and Phil Floraday from Automobile got a chance to sample it on a recent trip to Europe. The S400 is a mild hybrid, and in many respects it’s more similar to the Honda IMA system than Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy drive. The S400 will be the first mass-produced hybrid with a lithium ion battery pack. As Phil explains, the system provides start/stop capability, and some electric boost. However, the main purpose is to drive vehicle electrical systems off the lithium battery, reducing the parasitic loads on the engine. The battery itself gets most of its charging from regenerative braking that provides 75 percent of the braking capability in most urban driving.

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Perhaps you’ve heard: Mercedes-Benz has this new SUV called the GLK, and it’s not just the Sex and the City audience that’s being targeted. The compact ute’s getting-to-know-you tour will make a stop at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, where four concept versions will be on display. We already told you about RENNtech’s hybrid Rally Racer show truck, and now we have some info on the other three versions that’ll join it in Vegas.

Naturally, BRABUS will represent, skinning the GLK300 Bluetec in Widestar duds, new wheels, and the de rigeur custom interior. No power upgrade yet, it seems, but knowing BRABUS, they’ll have a version putting out approximately a trillion horsepower by the time the GLK is in customers’ hands.

Boulevard Customs is prepping the GLK “Urban Whip”, a garish creation sporting 26″ wheels and a front end that likely depleted the world’s supply of mesh grillework. Lord knows what all the other SEMA builders are gonna do now that they’re faced with this crisis.

Finally, Legendary Motor Cars will show the Four Corners Rock Crawler, which rolls on big knobby rubber, has an integrated grille guard, and sports a set of roof lights. But all that’s dress-up, because off-roading’s not the angle. This GLK has some winch rig that lets it pull skaters into position to then grind on the truck’s integrated side rails. (G-Wagen ambulance chase vehicle not included.)

Hey, no one ever said SEMA’s about being particularly normal. We’ll have plenty more live shots from the show in November. See photos after the jump Continued

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The coming CLS appears to offer more of the same: the current CLS is based on the E-Class platform; the next one is expected to be built atop S-Class underpinnings. Other than bigger body with a wider track, and bolder styling to harmonize with Mercedes’ current design language, not much is expected to change.

That is usually the case with iconic cars. Having invented the category of the four-door-car with a more coupe-like silhouette, Mercedes could be waiting to see what its rivals — from Aston Martin to VW — will bring to the segment before it makes a revolutionary move.

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An attentive Autoblog reader spotted what appears to be a prototype Mercedes S400 Hybrid in a Houston Texas parking lot the other day. The test car’s badges were all taped over, but the S400 and hybrid badging on the trunk lid seems to match the show concept. The S400 was shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show last fall and will launch into production in mid-2009 at about the same time as the ML450 Hybrid. While the SUV will use the Two-Mode hybrid system developed with GM, Chrysler, and BMW, the S400 will use the mild hybrid system created with BMW. The mild hybrid uses a 15kW motor sandwiched between the transmission and 3.5L V6. The Mercedes mild hybrid system is likely to be the first mass production hybrid with a lithium ion battery. At the auto show introduction, Mercedes claimed that the full-size hybrid luxury sedan will achieve nearly 30 mpg.

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During a media preview of the new BlueTec diesel powered Mercedes SUVs here in Vermont, Thomas Ruhl Director of R-Class, SUV hybrid and BlueTec discussed some of the alternative drive systems coming from Stuttgart in the near future. While he didn’t get into any of the electric car programs that have been discussed recently, he did talk about hybrids. Ruhl confirmed that the S400 BlueHybrid and ML450 BlueHybrid will be launched in the U.S. in 2009. BlueHybrid does not mean these are diesel hybrids, Blue is just the color that Mercedes and others are using to denote their cleaner, more efficient vehicles. When a diesel hybrid arrives it will be called a BlueTec Hybrid.

The S400 will use the mild hybrid system jointly developed by Mercedes and BMW and will be equipped with a lithium ion battery. The ML450 will be the first Mercedes application of the Two-Mode hybrid system. General Motors is building the Two-Mode hybrid transmissions for its own applications as well as supplying Chrylser. Similarly, Ruhl revealed that Mercedes would build the Two-Mode transmissions for both its own and BMW’s vehicles. The X6 will be the first Munich model to get the hybrid treatment. The guts of the Mercedes-built units will be identical for both German brands and, like the American version, the only difference is the mechanical interface to connect the respective automakers engines as well as the control software. One item Ruhl declined to discuss is the battery for use with the Two-Mode hybrids. GM and Chrysler are both using nickel metal hydride. Mercedes is using lithium ion for the mild hybrid and the ‘no comment’ from Ruhl indicates that the same may be true for the Two-Mode.

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By the middle of the next decade Mercedes-Benz wants its entire lineup to be able to operate entirely free of petroleum. The German giant is working on a variety of technologies that will help provide crude oil free transport such as battery electrics, fuel cells and highly efficient internal combustion engines that can operate on biofuels. Mercedes has recently been letting European journalists sample some of these new powertrains at a test facility in Spain.

The F700 concept that debuted last fall in Frankfurt is powered by a turbocharged DiesOtto engine. The DiesOtto is Mercedes’ branding for a combined HCCI and spark ignition engine that provides nearly the same efficiency as a diesel without the need for the expensive after-treatment systems. This and conventional diesel engines can run on biofuels and Mercedes hopes to launch the DiesOtto in production by 2010. Mercedes is also currently field testing electrically-driven vehicles with both batteries alone and fuel cells each of which they also plan to launch at the beginning of the decade. While it may well be that all Mercedes models in 2015 will be capable of running petroleum free, the reality is that many - if not most - will still be using fossil fuels much of the time. That may come in the form of coal for electricity, natural gas reformed into hydrogen, or petroleum fuels blended with biofuels. But you have to start somewhere.

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As announced for the A and B-series, Mercedes is naming its environmental line Blue Efficiency. MB’s compact sedans, the C-Series, will now get the Blue Efficiency treatment. They will be offered with two engine versions, the C180 Kompressor (gasoline) and the C200 CDI (diesel). Both versions are about €500 cheaper than the previous base versions, at €30,613 and €32,516 respectively (in Germany).

For the C-Class Blue Efficiency, Mercedes has installed lighter glass (1.2 kg less) and lightweight alloys, as well as using tires that have 17 percent less rolling resistance. The car was also lowered and got a revised engine bay, closed underbody and redesigned mirrors for slicker aerodynamics. These changes reduce overall resistance by seven percent.

The C180 Kompressor had its engine size reduced from 1.8 to 1.6 liters while keeping its power and torque figures, 156 HP and 230 Nm (170 lbft), respectively. The C200 CDI got no significant improvements, and neither of the two versions got the Stop/Start feature. However, fuel consumption figures are already pretty good: 6.5 l/100 km (36 mpg U.S.), and 5.1 l/100 km (46 mpg) for the C200 CDI. Even without out any serious changes to the C200 CDI, these are 0.9 and 0.6 liters lower than the previous most economical versions, respectively.

(Source: Autobloggreen)

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