All future Mercedes models to get hybrid option?!

Darn them for following ToyLex.

They must have just started this hybrid project last tuesday!

although the author of tat article has an obvious disdain for hybrids, it is, once again, great to see that Euro mfrs are embracing the future instead of clinging to the past. now if only (some) Autospies posters would join the 21st century.

Mate a hybrid to a B-Class, ship it to America and I'm game.

Now there's an idea! A direct Prius competitor from Mercedes.

That what I'm talking about, yeah...the German finally get it in their head. There many rich/normal people out there that care about the environment; hybrid is for them.

Toyota should come out with a Slogan like "Got a Hybrid" or something. :) Not only that Toyota is currently working a high performance sportcar hybrid. Honda also just jump into the sport hybrid bandwagon.

So, so far we have the VW, Porsche, MB, BMW and the Bentley copying Toyota/Lexus hybrid cars. Who is next?

there were hybrids before there was a toyota or a lexus.....lmao at copying toyota...but anything to say someone would want to copy them i guess

The idea of hybrid cars, maybe not.

But you must concede that the Germans are copying the idea of selling hybrid cars in today's marketplace because of the efforts/success of Toyota.

Bors, you must learn that some of the Lexus fans are completely insane.
LexusKing and Lexusmaniac are the 2 current madhouses, with great logic like "Lexus dominates North America, so we can conclude that the IS-F will be best in class". And of course, Lexusmaniac accused Audi of being a VW, whereas Lexus is of course completely independent.
You will learn to filter it out, soon. Then, you will laugh.

Technically Toyota/Lexus copied Honda at hybrid technology, but Porsche, MB, BMW, and Bentley copied Lexus in the sense of luxury hybrids, but the whole thing comes from Honda.

I know it hurt to see your belove German brand following Toyota/Lexus. Ha...ha...ha....ha...ha.

They'll sell a hybrid in the US for suckers like HUU, and keep selling Diesels in the rest of the world.

Do you dare to drive a hybrid made in German?

After Toyota CEO spoke out Toyota' 2009 3rd gen hybrid system powered by Li-ion battery (size&price down by half, mpg improved may up to 50%), everyone suddenly believes in hybrid. They better to, though.

Talking with Toyota's Top Man
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_10/b4024074.htm

Good for Mercedes customers that they will have some other engine options.

Has anyone watched that film "Who killed the Electric Car" they have some good points as to why Hydrogen is inferior to that of the Electric car, or in just any case, how Hydrogen is not a good alternative.

"Hydrogen is a much tougher alternative fuel than any other alternative out there"

1) Fuel Cell cars using Hydrogen uses 3 to 4 times more energy than a car using batteries.
2) Current Hydrogen Car costs $1 million dollars
3) Not enough room for hydrogen fuel. Need an enormous amount of hydrogen storage within a car to get decent mileage out of it.
4) Hydrogen Fuel Infrastructure, meaning more pumps like the ones built in Irvine as said above.
5) Hydrogen Fuel is expensive. Costs 2 to 3 times more than gasoline.

I recommend everyone watch this movie if you get the chance, because it gives some good points that makes you think. The best alternative that is coming, is PLUG-IN hybrids.

Even a Toyota exec. for the Toyota Hydrogen vehicles Bill Reinert said the hydrogen car is many years away, and is inferior to electric cars.

Bill Reinert "The Worst question is when will this vehicle be available." Thats what we should be asking for these hydrogen cars being built shown as concepts right now.

Thesailor, is the best you could do, lame attempt but thank for trying. What freaklin dweeb, it he...he...he...ha...ha....ha.

Sorry to burst the bubble for all you hybrid fans, but it is impossible for hybrids to become mainstream, unless 1 of 2 things happen:
* worldwide car sales shrink to a fraction of current (making "mainstream" a small number).
OR
* you find another planet where you can install mines to produce are the rare (and toxic) materials needed for the electric motors and the batteries.

HYBRIDS GOING MAINSTREAM WOULD BE THE LARGEST ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER IN THE HISTORY OF THIS PLANET!
If every car built now had hybrid drive, the pollution would likely wipe out most lifeforms on the planet, BEFORE THE CARS HIT THE SHOWROOMS!

So, please get a grip on reality and do some research on:
A) how a hybrid vehicle operates
B) what makes up the drive-train of a hybrid vehicle
C) what materials are used to build those components
D) how those materials are created (smelters, energy costs, etc.)
E) and finally, how much of each material is estimated to be left in the ground of this planet.

If you looked into the facts, you'd see that we run out of materials for hybrid vehicles long before we run out of crude oil to power plain old ICEs.
(and we don't have the energy to create these materials at the rates that would be required, and we don't have dumps big enough to dispose of all the hybrid battery packs either!)

(its a good thing that there are some engineers on this site to help ground the discussions in reality)

Hybrid-technology DEFINITION a means to take the pollution normally generated by the operation of a vehicle over its lifetime, and instead generate it before the vehicle is even sold.

HYBRID CARS ARE LIKE FUR COATS: Perfect technology as long as you are ignorant of how the product was produced!

I guess those engineers at Toyota dont know anything, but the supposed engineers that have time to post on Autospies do, huh.

The vast majority of cars' environmental impact occurs through their driving lives, not production. There are plenty of raw materials, that are no more toxic than many other parts used in cars, for the batteries. And, as has been posted tousands of times, the batteries are recyclable. They are also durable, as not one has needed replacement in 10 years on the road. Diesel is the past. Clean diesel holds promise, but even after 100 years of development, clean diesels are still not as clean and efficient as the hybrid. By the time they get there, the next gen hybrids will be out. MBZ, BMW, Porsche and the others are just now figuring this out, and simply must participate, or get left further and further behind.

"The vast majority of cars' environmental impact occurs through their driving lives, not production." is correct ... for a normal ICE such as diesel or gas power. But not for hybrids. Normal cars don't use large amounts of Cobalt, Molybdemun, etc.
And those don't come from North America or Europe where we have strict pollution laws ... they come from Malaysia, Indonesia, Russia, places where pollution regs are just starting to appear.

Hybrids are worse for the environment than conventional cars. This is obvious to anyone who has half a brain. For the ignorant read here:

http://clubs.ccsu.edu/recorder/editorial/editorial_item.asp?NewsID=188

Recent findings are showing that the extinction of the dinosaurs was brought about by using hybrid technology in their cars.

Hybrids will kill us all!!!

Exactly ... not any environmental arguments. The most environmentally friendly family sedan sold (based on product life-cycle) is the Passat TDI. And yes, the Prius was in that comparison!

Great now were going to have a SLR"H" ... supercharged v8 with 2 electric motors... 800hp ... 30mpg ..

next they'll all get CVT transmissions ....

No, it's not true.

Will, must you sit there and remain ignorant?

Here. Have an article, posted by kpaxx.

http://clubs.ccsu.edu/recorder/editorial/editorial_item.asp?NewsID=188

Read the posts below.
Demand for some rare metals is causing prices to double every 6 months!

Fortunately, Hybrid production numbers cannot grow very large. They are self-limiting. Everytime that volumes go up, the demand for rare metals will push the prices up. That will kill off the profit margins.
Companies will have to drop models or raise prices. And if demand rises, material costs will rise too, and again all profits will disappear.

This is on longer economics based on "economies of scale". Metals are like oil and its a supply/demand equation ... there is only so much left, and the faster we use it up, the higher the price goes.

Mint bans melting coins now worth more as liquid than loot
December 14, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Given rising metal prices, the pennies and nickels in your pocket are worth more melted down than their face value -- and that has the government worried. (Chicago Sun)

Tight world supplies and strong demand from China have more than doubled the price of nickel in the past 12 months. Nickel is used in the production of stainless steel and other corrosion-resistant metals. (from CBC.ca)

We are already running out of COBALT

Targeting a Tight Cobalt Market

By Richard Reinhard
16 Feb 2007 at 12:23 PM EST

SEATTLE (ResourceInvestor.com) -- It isn’t as hot as uranium or as precious as gold but cobalt’s profile will continue to growing the coming months and years. The price has almost doubled from $16 - $30 per pound these past few months due to supply issues and steady buyers. The issue at hand for investors though, is that there are precious few public cobalt companies.

It is becoming apparent that there is huge potential for companies positioned to provide a stable supply of cobalt. Demand is increasing into what is a very tight physical market, and there is real fear that current supply could be constricted.

This is from a recent story from Metal-pages.com: “’It's just been non-stop,’ said one London trader. ’This January is the busiest in 30 years.’ He has paid $26.25 for Russian metal, predicting the shortage of stocks will send prices higher still. Consumers are so desperate for metal they are calling him at 11 in the evening, he said. He predicted cobalt prices will rise above $30 before the end of the month.”

The only cobalt-focused companies on my radar screen are Geovic Mining Corp [TSXv:GMC] developing its open pit cobalt-nickel deposits in Cameroon, Africa, and Formation Capital [TSXv:FCO], developing a cobalt deposit in Idaho.

Cobalt inventories are low – one source suggested only a few days’ supply. Cobalt is used extensively in batteries for hybrid cars (both nickel and lithium ion) and many electronic devices – cell phones, laptops etc., all of which are experiencing increasing sales. Inventories are low around the world, at a time when demand is picking up.
...

We are also running out of NEODYMIUM due to hybrid cars:

August 17, 2006

INDUSTRY BULLETIN – NEODYMIUM PRICES SURGE BASED ON HIGH DEMAND FOR MAGNETS AND TIGHT SUPPLY

Dear Shareholder:

In our ongoing efforts to provide you with broader communications and industry information, we are pleased to issue the following Industry Bulletin discussing recent trends in price of various Rare Earth Elements (“REE’s”) notably neodymium.

The attached article published recently by “Metal-Pages.com”, reports on the surging price of neodymium due to strengthening demand for neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) high intensity permanent magnets, which are used in the electric motors that power hybrid cars. Neodymium metal prices have doubled over the past six months to over US$25/kg.

With all the major car companies around the world increasing their production of Hybrid Cars, and neodymium-iron-boron magnets being a key component of this technology, the demand for neodymium is likely to continue to rise. We attach two recent articles discussing plans for increased hybrid car production by such automotive companies as GM, Daimler-Chrysler, Honda and BMW.

Avalon’s Thor Lake REE-Beryllium-Tantalum-Zirconium-Niobium deposit in the NWT shows relatively high enrichment in neodymium and the heavy rare earths compared to the light rare earths such as cerium and lanthanum, as illustrated and discussed on Avalon’s website (www.avalonventures.com/projects_thor_lake.html). At the present time the Company’s consultants are preparing a scoping study on the Lake Zone REE deposit which is expected to be completed in September, 2006.

Hopefully you're now a little more educated (these are only 2 of many metals) to the challenges of building hybrid cars.
NOTE: Electric cars face the same challenges. They share the same components and materials, so its not just a hybrid problem.

Subaru.

You people are so uneducated. To imply that hybrids actually do more harm to the environment than gasoline and diesels is just plain stupid. Hybrid haters are truly annoying cult-like people. You can pull out as many unresearched scholarly articles about refrigerator magnets all you want, it does not make you look any smarter. And if other automakers were truly interested in saving the environment, they would work harder to find a solution to ease the burden at the pump and the strain on the planet, but they aren't. The produce silly and unrealistic toys like hydrogen-powered cars. The real future is in hybrids and electric-powered automobiles. Toyota recognized this first, and once again has forced all other automakers to get in line. It's one thing to not like Toyota, but to make ridiculous claims about hybrids doing more harm to the planet is just ridiculous.