Gossip, diesel, news, over the back fence, bluetec, hybrid, industry news, m-class...

Over The Back Fence: M-Class To Go Hybrid?

We're hearing from our UK-based friends at Auto Express that the Teutonic side of the German-American not-so-much "merger of equals" could be readying a diesel-electric hybrid M-Class. They're quoting an unnamed senior source at Mercedes as saying

"It's a safe bet that our first move into hybrids will come with the M-Class, using a 3.2-litre V6 Bluetec diesel."

It looks like if Mercedes does end up moving in this direction, they're hoping that by linking the two-mode hybrid system, developed with BMW and General Motors, to a Bluetec diesel engine they can eclipse the Lexus RX400h in fuel efficiency claims. Not the worst idea — but will problems and issues surrounding the sale of the Chrysler Group possibly force them to put this on hold? Who knows, I mean, we're just speculating away here. – Ray Wert

Hybrid M-Class on way [Autoexpress.co.uk]

12:00 PM on Thu Apr 26 2007
By Ray Wert
316 views
4 comments

Comments

Jonny Lieberman at 11:09 AM on 04/26/07
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 100
Brought to you by Acura TSX

Electric urine.

That's all.
Brian E at 11:38 AM on 04/26/07
Reply by Email
*

@jonnylieberman: Mountain Dew-powered Mercedes? Sweet!
HDC at 11:40 AM on 04/26/07
Reply by Email
*

Why would dumping Chrysler have any effect? Isn't everything involved here purely Mercedes tech and engineering?

Either way, I hope it happens soon. There's lots of biodiesel nerds out there chomping at the bit for hybrid diesels and I'm starting to like the idea myself. Though I wonder how the aforementioned urine burning tech will cross over into biodiesel land.
rgseidl at 12:00 PM on 04/26/07
Reply by Email
*

I wouldn't put too much stock in hearsay from an unnamed source. Idle stop makes sense for diesels, if only for emissions' sake, but anything beyond that quickly becomes very heavy, very bulky and very expensive. Besides, both PMSM electric motors and diesels deliver oodles of torque at the low end, which means you need a very beefy transmission as well. Power is limited because neither type of engine can normally rev very high. Siemens VDO has come up with a way to vary the strength of the permanent magnets on-the-fly to permit field weakening at high RPM, but I don't know if that technology will be applied.

I would therefore still expect a gasoline hybrid and an idle-stop Bluetec diesel to exist side-by-side as engine options for a future M-Class. The gasoline engine may feature stratified GDI and an NOx store catalyst, a technology MB also considers part of its Bluetec portfolio.

The real question is if anyone will still want to buy an SUV of any kind by that time, as they are fast becoming seriously uncool. CUVs and butched-up wagons are gaining market share, at least in Europe. They are not much better in terms of fuel economy but irrational consumers think they are.