German Car Zone

Benz's Mild Hybrid Lithium-Ion Technology Makes Its Way to the S-Class


It's probably best to call the new Mercedes-Benz S400 BlueHybrid a mild, rather than full, hybrid, because it can't propel itself on electrical power alone. In other words, the BlueHybrid is not powered by the two-mode system co-developed with GM for big SUVs, which will be an option for the M-Class next year. This is a smaller, cheaper system designed to be scaleable across all Mercedes car lines.

Despite its comparative simplicity, the S400 BlueHybrid's gasoline and CO2 savings are significant: some 21 percent in the European test cycle, compared with the regular V-6 S350. It's also quieter at rest and more muscular in real-world acceleration. There's very little penalty over the standard V-6 in terms of weight -- just 170 pounds -- and none at all in passenger or luggage accommodation or payload.

Of course you can't buy a regular Euro-spec S350 in the US, so let's do the numbers against a V-8 S550. The BlueHybrid goes 47 percent further on a gallon than the S550 on the Euro test cycle, but its performance figures aren't so very far off -- about seven seconds 0-to-60 instead of 5.4. That's why they called it S400: because it feels like a four-liter engine.


S400 BlueHybrid



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