2010 MERCEDES-BENZ C-CLASS STYLING | [8 out of 10] Kelley Blue Book: “longer wheelbase and body give the car a substantial road presence” Car and Driver: “a look that says Mercedes in any language” Edmunds: “Cabin can come off as a little austere and a bit bland” The 2010 Mercedes-Benz C-Class is the company’s smallest sedan, one … Browse Photos

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2010 Mercedes-Benz C-Class / C300 / C350

The 335-horsepower, dual-motor Mercedes-Benz ML 450 Hybrid has landed on our shores, but the German luxury vehicle maker says we can't buy 'em. The new hybrid is only being offered on a factory lease: $659 a month for 36 months, or $549 a month for 60 months. The hybrid package – using the dual-mode transmission system jointly developed with BMW, General Motors and Chrysler – marries a 3.5-liter, 275-horsepower V6 to a pair of electric motors for a combined 335 ponies and a diesel-like 381 lb.-ft. of torque. Mercedes says the lease-only decision was made because of concerns about limited future battery supplies and the company's desire to keep a tighter rein on customer satisfaction – in the event, for instance, that appropriate replacement batteries weren't available a decade from now – than outright sales would allow. The ML450 Hybrid is capable of traveling for short distances – under two miles – at speeds of up to 34 miles an hour in all-electric drive with juice from its 2.4 kilowatt-hour nickel-metal hydride battery pack, which is recharged with power generated by the

With governments at home and around the world vigorously pushing development and deployment of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, Japanese battery manufacturer GS Yuasa says it plans to build a new lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant to increase its output. The company already is aligned with Mitsubishi in the Lithium Energy Japan joint venture to supply the Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric city car and with Honda through the Blue Energy Co. joint venture for hybrid batteries. It also has designs on becoming a global supplier to a variety of automakers, the Nikkei business news service reports. The new plant is expected to cost about 50-billion yen ($559 million) and could supply companies such as PSA Peugeot Citron, which recently announced a pair of electric city cars – one for the Peugeot brand and one for Citroen – based on the i-MiEV (right) . GS Yuasa also has said it is talking EV and PHEV battery supply deals with automakers in the U.S. The company has said it expects its lithium-ion battery sales to top $1 billion a year by 2016, up from around $34 million this year.

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Japan’s GS Yuasa Plans New Lithium Battery Plant on Expectation of EV Growth

Reuters reports that Aabar Investments is considering increasing their stake in Daimler AG from 9.1% to 15%. Aabar is already Daimler largest shareholder and this move, should it happen, will further cement this position. The Abu Dhabi investment fund paid $2.7 billion for the 9.1% stake when the share price €20.77. Since then, the share

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Abu Dhabi Wants A Second Date With Daimler

Anticipating a payoff in cleaner city air and a lowering of national CO2 emissions, the German environmental ministry is awarding automaker Daimler a grant of up to 9 million euros ($13.46 million) to subsidize development of an all-electric version of its Sprinter commercial van. Up to 50 of the electric vans will be produced by the Mercedes-Benz Van unit and delivered to customers in environmentally sensitive inner city areas for real-world testing. Because they travel relatively short distances and spend a lot of

Daimler today debuted its third-generation Mercedes-Benz Citaro fuel-cell-hybrid bus at the site in Hamburg, Germany, where 10 of the buses enter service next year. In addition, the Hamburger Hochbahn public-transport company will take delivery of 20 Mercedes-Benz B-class fuel-cell cars starting next year. The buses will take part in large-scale fleet trials scheduled to take place in Hamburg and other European cities as part of a follow-up to real-world hydrogen-vehicle testing in the the European Union from 2003 to the present. Vehicles participation in the testing “performed outstandingly,” Daimler said in a press release distributed Monday, adding that their total operating time exceeded 140,000 hours and the buses covered a total of more than 1.35 million miles. Daimler said that due to improved fuel-cell components and hybridization with lithium-ion batteries, the latest version of the Citaro fuel-cell-hybrid bus consumes almost 50 percent less hydrogen than the preceding generation. The operating range of the fuel-cell bus is 155 miles and the fuel-cell drive system is also practically maintenance-free and has a long operating life.

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Daimler Debuts Third-Generation Mercedes-Benz Fuel-Cell-Hybrid Bus for Testing

Mercedes-Benz is announcing a new telematics platform on Monday that not only beefs up its navigation system with traffic and weather information, but also lets drivers lock or unlock their cars using an iPhone or Blackberry.

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Mercedes Connects to the iPhone (and Blackberry)

• What is it? A luxury SUV that returns a fuel economy of 21 mpg/24 mpg (city/highway) • The basics: Two electric motors and a 3.5-liter V-6 • On sale: November 16, 2009 • Price: Only available on lease, from $549 per month First seen at the 2009 New York Auto Show back in April, the highly-efficient 2010 Mercedes-Benz ..

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Preview: 2010 Mercedes-Benz ML450 Hybrid

Dieter Zetsche, Daimler AG chairman and head of the German automaker's Mercedes-Benz passenger-car division, said yesterday in a media conference in New York that it “remains to be seen” if the U.S. economy really is improving, adding that “there is some (economic) data causing concern.”

Daimler AG is considering launching a series of small Mercedes-Benz cars in the U.S. in a bid to tap Americans' growing interest in downsized models that offer upscale features and finishes, the German automaker's chief executive said. ———- The Mercedes-Benz A-Class, right, gets 50 MPG but isn't available in the U.S. ———- Under its tentative plan, Mercedes would import by 2012 at least one of four next-generation compact models it will start selling in Europe in late 2011, Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal (subscription required). These diminutive Mercedes would go head to head with an expanding field of premium small cars in the U.S., including the A3 from Volkswagen AG's Audi unit and BMW AG's 1 series and Mini Cooper. Unlike traditional compacts these cars can be costly; the Mini goes for as much as $34,000 depending on options. Daimler's

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Daimler Announces Tentative Plan to Launch Series of Luxury Compact Cars in U.S.