Filed under: Car Buying, Sedans/Saloons, Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes confirms BLUETEC diesels will be in Europe by year's end
E-Class Bluetecs have been available for about a year, where they account for 20-percent of sales. Now Mercedes' Bluetec-engined cars will be available for purchase in Europe by the end of this year. E-Classes with Bluetec will go on sale in December in all but the UK. Right-hand drive versions are expected at some point in the future, but it is unknown when.
"Bluetec" describes Mercedes diesel engines that utilize it's AdBlue reductant and DeNOX particulate filter. The engines get better gas mileage and produce fewer emissions. Though E-Class Bluetec's will join the European market soon, and the GL-, M-, and R-Class Bluetec's will also join the US market soon, similarly-equipped C-Class, won't appear in any markets until 2009. The C250 is claimed to get 57.7 mpg, while a C300 Bluetec hybrid gets a claimed 61.4 mpg.
The hybrid wars have been going on in the US for some time now, and when asked why launch the Bluetec in America first, a Mercedes UK spokesman said "The focus has been on the big prize which is converting America." If those mileage claims are proved in real-world use, then Mercedes conversion efforts should get a huge push when the C arrives.
[Source: Merecedes-Benz]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tony C 3:19PM (10/06/2007)
Also remember that the MPG figures listed above might look like amazing numbers, but they're for the UK, which has larger gallons. You have to multiply all those number by 0.833 to get anywhere near estimated US MPG figures.
http://www.ex.ac.uk/cimt/dictunit/dictunit.htm#fuelconsumption
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Gardiner Westbound 3:39PM (10/06/2007)
Reports indicate VW diesel engines fuel cost savings are more than eaten up by very high maintenance and repair expenses. I'll wait and see how Mercedes diesels perform.
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Random Task 3:47PM (10/06/2007)
Well, here's a hint- how do all Mercedes' perform? Not well- they are the princes of Consumer Reports' Circles of Darkness! Overly complex, overpriced German luxocrap- no thank you! Why don't we get some diesels from people who know about reliability- the Japanese. That's when I'll be able to buy one.
Lad 3:49PM (10/06/2007)
Please don't forget these are still ICEs with mechanical drive units and as such suffer from poor effeciency down arround 20 to 30 percent at the axles. Additionally, they are expensive complicated devices prone to repair only at the shop of a high-priced dealership. Not me boy!, I'm staying with the old Volvo until my BEV gets built. I like the idea of pluging into the grid or into a homemade power source for my car's energy. It's coming and to make it happen timely, I would like to see buyers wait until they are avalable before you buy another new car. "Buy used cars til then."
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big L 5:22PM (10/06/2007)
Not Calif tho...
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jeff 11:12PM (10/06/2007)
The BlueTec E class is a 2008 model in all 50 states.
big L 12:10PM (10/08/2007)
Hi Jeff. YAy. one of my friends has a 1980 240 D that is getting long in the tooth.
Mikey 5:22PM (10/06/2007)
"Well, here's a hint- how do all Mercedes' perform? Not well- they are the princes of Consumer Reports' Circles of Darkness! Overly complex, overpriced German luxocrap- no thank you! Why don't we get some diesels from people who know about reliability- the Japanese. That's when I'll be able to buy one."
yeah... they USED to be that way, as of 2007 and 2008 you wont find that much anymore... my mom has a 2007 E320 bluetech diesel and its amazing, amazing to drive, alot better quality than a 2005 E500 a friend of mine has, the buttons havent broken off and it feels more firmly planted and built better... so before you say they are unreliable, yes, they were for the last 10 years, but they are coming back, and they have been coming back and are back, so go check out a brand new mercedes yourself before you make that assumption.
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Random Task 1:54PM (10/07/2007)
Well, I'll give them 5 years or so to see how these current Mercedes shake out. Do not trust the Germans with anything halfway complicated- ALL of their manufacturers have poor reliability track records.
Toy Yoda 9:16PM (10/06/2007)
In the risk of getting smart-@ss comments, where would they get the urea from? There's going to be a large demand for urea if this kind of diesel becomes the future, and I'm wondering where will they get it all.
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Val 9:48PM (10/06/2007)
It's no mistery, urea is already produced in huge amounts as a fertilizer, wikipedia says around 100,000,000 tonnes of urea are produed a year. AdBlue is already sold in europe at service stations, for use in trucks, and the system uses about 3-5% of the amount of burned diesel. So a 3 litre urea tank should last a whole fuel tank (or something like that)
jeff 11:14PM (10/06/2007)
I was at my dealer last week inquiring about a Bluetec GL class. The guy I buy my cars from told me the E class is in transit (50 state, I live in CA) and next up will be the M class followed by the GL in 2009.
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Chris Adams 2:22PM (12/28/2008)
It's helpful to distinguish between Bluetec for 6 and 8 cylinder engines, described in the article here, and Bluetec for 4 cylinder diesels. Only in the larger engines does Mercedes "utilize it's AdBlue reductant" (a urea solution) to diminish nitrous oxide emissions.
In the smaller 4 cylinder engines the source of ammonia>>urea for the reaction is a catalytic surface located in the exhaust system that generates the required compounds from thin air - literally.
All Bluetec systems, and even the current non-Bluetec range of diesels available in the US from Mercedes have the DeNOX particulate filters.
As far as "the engines get better gas mileage and produce fewer emissions, my understanding is that when Mercedes releases the 2008.5 ML and GL diesels with the Bluetec hardware there will be a slight decrease in HP and no effect on fuel efficiency....but of course the added complexity of the urea solution storage and extra exhaust treatment system.
The addition of Bluetec to the ML series later on in 2008 is a big reason why I just purchased a non-Bluetec ML320 CDI. I don't want the extra complexity of the exhaust scrubber.
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j_diesel 3:09PM (10/06/2007)
my understanding is the addition of AdBlue fluid will be no more complex than topping off a washer resivoir. the actual reaction chamber will be a non-serviceable exhaust component. i haven't heard any mass complaints about the system, possibly due to the limited time it has been available. i totally understand where you're coming from but M-B isn't the only company that will use this technology and i think they have researched and developed their bluetec system because they understand the importance of making these changes pain free for all the possible diesel converts here in north america. i personally would buy a diesel if it was still a chugging, leaky mess like my old '80 300SD but i'm the exception.
besides, with all the agencies expecting diesel to be as clean as a gasoline engine this might prove to be one of only a handful of ways to get it done.
thankfully there will be a diesel hybrid! this will finally expose all the gas hybrids for the mediocre attempt they are.
Hooper 10:18PM (10/06/2007)
Kudos for correcting Mr. Ramsey's erroneous statement that "'Bluetec' describes Mercedes diesel engines that utilize it's AdBlue reductant and DeNOX particulate filter" but you made a small error yourself when you wrote, "...the current non-Bluetec range of diesels available in the US from Mercedes..." The diesel-powered vehicles currently available in the U.S. *are* Bluetecs; methinks you meant to write "AdBlueless" rather than "non-Bluetec."
Hooper 12:37AM (10/07/2007)
Oops, I stand corrected. I just checked the MB USA online showroom (http://www.mbusa.com/vehicle-showroom.do) and found a mention of the GL320 CDI, the ML320 CDI and the R320 CDI.