It's unlikely to be as affordable as a Toyota Prius, but the upcoming Mercedes C350 Plug-in Hybrid sedan is tipped to use around half as much fuel.
That's the reality of Benz's most efficient petrol-powered car, according to Ralf Rossmanith, the Head of Development for the C-Class Estate, who also confirmed the car's existence publicly for the first time in Germany this week.
To be powered a four-cylinder petrol-electric hybrid powertrain, Rossmanith says current testing of the C 350 hybrid shows CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km, which translates to average fuel consumption of around 2.0L/100km.
It currently has a 30km all-electric range says Rossmanith, but could be tweaked to drive 50km in order to be sold in the Chinese market.
When the electricity is depleted, the 155kW/350Nm 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine should deliver a typical cruising range of around 600km.
Mercedes-Benz Australia is interested in the new ultra-efficient vehicle, but only if it can be priced under $100,000, says the company's Senior Manager of Public Relations, Product and Corporate Communications, David McCarthy.
However, there are "concerns" with plug-in hybrids and electric cars, said the local Benz PR boss.
"One of the concerns we have in Australia about a plug-in hybrid is how the electricity is generated. While a proportion is renewable, is it enough?
"If you had lots of electric cars, lots of plug-in hybrids, you're not reducing emissions, you're increasing them," he said, citing Australia's reliance on coal-generated electricity, which produces a significant amount of Australia's CO2 emissions.
But McCarthy denied the company was facing a moral dilemma with plug-in hybrid technology.
"I wouldn’t call it a moral dilemma. We have a concern and we've expressed that before. If you're replacing pollution here with pollution there, what's the point of that?"
Despite the challenge of finding a truly green method to charge its most efficient plug-in hybrid vehicles, Mercedes believes there's growing acceptance among luxury car buyers for uber-efficient environmentally-friendly vehicles, and it's being driven by today's youth.
McCarthy says there's anecdotal evidence to suggest luxury car buyers are "under pressure from their kids and grandkids to drive in a more [environmentally] responsible manner".
Mercedes is relatively late to the hybrid party in Australia, with the E 300 Hybrid sedan being its first electrified model here. Lexus has long been the local market's luxury hybrid leader, and both BMW and Infiniti now also offer a number of hybrid models.
BMW Australia will launch its first plug-in hybrid, the i3, in November and Audi Australia will jump straight to PHEV technology with the A3 etron next year.
As Mercedes-Benz continues to push ahead with plug-in hybrids – the 2.8L/100km S-Class plug-in limousine is also being considered for Australia – its local arm will have to decide whether to import the latest-generation luxury eco-cars.
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