BlueEfficiency a lighthouse project
Fuel-frugal models from Benz will shine out in the dark like a beacon, says sustainability expertThe reliance of Mercedes-Benz on its BlueEfficiency buzzword cannot be underestimated. At the Paris Motor Show last week, it seemed like every variant of the new CLS was one of these miserly and sustainable cars -- with low carbon emissions and meagre fuel use.
But what happens, we asked Professor Herbert Kohler, when every car in the range is considered a 'BlueEfficiency' model? Where does the company go from there? As Vice President for e-Drive and future mobility, Professor Kohler would not only be aware, but would have been one of the backroom boffins behind the sustainability milestone announced the previous night by Head of Mercedes-Benz cars, Dr Dieter Zetsche. That strategy takes Benz along a path towards a full range of cars averaging 140g/km or less by 2012.
To get there, a significant proportion of the Benz range must become effectively BlueEfficiency models -- and that being the case, won't the value of the name become meaningless?
"I would bet that BlueEfficiency [will] always [be] some kind of 'lighthouse' project... and of course our whole fleet would be reduced maybe 20 per cent [in CO2 emissions]," Professor Kohler (pictured) replied to the question asked by the Carsales Network at the Paris motor show last week.
"There is new technology that you could maybe select out of that additional improvement and you could maybe name it BlueEfficiency or make a new definition out of that."
For Benz, the patented DiesOtto combustion principle will be integral to the development of new technology furthering the BlueEfficiency program -- and as we reported earlier, DiesOtto remains a work in progress, which is doubtless the basis for Professor Kohler's following remark.
"I think there is not a steady state at all for [BlueEfficiency]... It's not an end somewhere around 2015... it's on-going... There is always, in every segment, that front-runner, that lighthouse, which is different to the mainstream in that segment..."
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