MERCEDES-BENZ is putting a plug-in hybrid drivetrain into a luxury mid-size sedan for the first time in an effort to outflank BMW’s 3-Series on fuel efficiency.
The drivetrain of a motor vehicle is the group of components that delivers power to the driving wheels.
Mercedes’s best-selling C-Class will get plug-in technology first made available last year in the firm’s aristocratic S-Class. After a debut this week at the Detroit motor show, the newest C-Class is scheduled to go on sale in Europe in March and reach the US in September.
Staying abreast of new technology is part of the Daimler unit’s strategy for winning back buyers from BMW, the world’s biggest luxury-car manufacturer since 2005, and second-ranked Audi.
Mercedes plans to bring out 10 plug-in models by 2017 to meet tightening carbon-dioxide emissions rules and combat Tesla Motors’s success among environmentally conscious customers.
“It’s an important signal that Mercedes is working at the forefront of the latest technology,” said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, a director of the Centre for Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen.
With oil prices starting this year at the lowest since mid-2009, Dudenhoeffer said he expected low volume for plug-in hybrids.
Loading the new Mercedes C-Class, with features from the S-Class, has been part of the carmaker’s effort to win younger customers and reduce the brand’s reputation of producing stodgy autos for older men. – Bloomberg