Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) has used a fashion show to launch a version of its E320 Bluetec, a diesel sedan that will immediately be available in limited numbers in California through a special two-year/24,000-mile lease.
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California’s stringent emissions requirements have kept new diesel cars off the California market for the better part of a decade.
“In order to be able to provide the power and economy of diesel technology throughout the world, we had to make the diesel version as clean as the gasoline model. With Bluetec, nitrogen oxides can be reduced to such an extent that our diesel vehicles will satisfy the strictest emission regulations in the world – even in the future. This makes Mercedes-Benz the first manufacturer in the world to fully bring all exhaust gas components under control,” said Leopold Mikulic, head of powertrain development at Mercedes-Benz Cars.
MBUSA is offering the diesel E320 through a Mercedes-Benz Financial Services lease priced on par with the petrol E350.
The special limited-mileage lease programme is the first step in the company’s plans to offer consumers diesel alternatives in all 50 states. All-state-compliant diesels will be available across the SUV model lines (M, GL and R- Class) late next year and Mercedes will continue to add to its alternative powertrain offerings.
Tom Cackette, executive director for the California Air Resources Board (CARB), said: “The E320 is testimony to demanding nothing but the cleanest vehicles for California. Mercedes-Benz has developed a diesel emission control system that results in a car as clean as comparable gasoline vehicles being sold here.
“This vehicle has shed the reputation of diesel as a dirty technology. And we hope California has shed its anti-diesel reputation by certifying this vehicle as the first diesel passenger car to meet the most stringent smog emission standards in the world.”
MBUSA president and CEO Ernst Lieb said the California market plays a critical role in the comeback of the diesel. “In addition to being one of the top automotive markets in the world, California has tremendous influence.”
A next step is the extension of the special lease programme to other states which do not currently allow sales of new diesel cars in January 2008. Later next year, Mercedes will introduce another Bluetec system on its M-, R- and GL-Class vehicles which AdBlue injection, a process that adds precisely measured quantities of a urea-based solution into the exhaust stream which enhances long-term emissions performance sufficient to meet the stringent BIN 5 standards.
