Mercedes’ forthcoming S-class Hybrid has been spotted leaving the Lotus premises in Norfolk, England..
It’s thought that the boffins at Lotus have been helping Mercedes with the final tweaks on the car’s switching mechanism, which controls the activation of the drivetrain’s electric motors.
The hybrid model will use the company’s 3.5L 268bhp V6 petrol engine, working in tandem with an electric motor positioned ahead of the car’s front-mounted automatic gearbox, and driving directly into it.
That should be enough to increase power output to nearly 300bhp all told, to send it to 62mph in 7.5sec, but also return an average 35mpg. A production version of the car will be shown at the Frankfurt show in September.
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^wow this will be one hell of a car.. cant wait.. and 300hp..i wouldnt complain to much

Looks like Lexus have competition!

I hope Mercedes hybrid will actual live up to it's mpg figures!

A ML hybrid came into the shop a week or two ago. It was doing warm weather testing, and the batteries were over heating, so some guys had to help install cooling tubes.

Can't wait to see this one in the showroom. Though with 300hp it will be no match for the Lexus in peformance, but if it can do better in MPG that will be enough to make it a hot item, especially here in the U.S. No wonder Mercedes is no hurry to import the S450 here, we're going to have a hybrid for 2009!

M

good news, i hope more german makes follow suit.

I don't really think this S-Class will compete directly with the Lexus LS600h. The LS600h will clearly perform better in terms of acceleration, but it looks like this S-Class Hybrid could deliver better MPG. That's what matters with these hybrids IMO.

Good job - S350 hybrid. Sounds excellent to me.

If this one is getting the 3.5L engine,i think it will have direct injection.so power should be higher than 300hp.

I was reading in a car mag for the Lexus hybrid, either MT, CD or RT, that the MPGs weren't above 30 in their tests on the highway. I swear, I will go back to work tomorow and look at it again lol. I'm not sure how effective the high output hybrid engine is in returning great fuel economy, but it rather has cleaner emissions.

Interesting to see Lotus helping with this hybrid.