2007 FRANKFURT AUTO SHOW: Mercedes To Be The First To Have Lithium Ion Hybrid

Oh No!! Toyota (Lexus) will have to follow Mercedes-Benz lead once again? But won't Toyota grow tired of the same dance?

— Airliner (View Profile)

Posted on 9/11/2007 2:00:20 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 4   

I hope MB budget enough money aside for lawsuit....

— ceric (View Profile)

Posted on 9/11/2007 2:08:02 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: -8   

Houstoncutie.

Think about what you just said. LMFAO! Rentention? Well its misspelled but for sure toyota is on that lowest retention path.

— w209w114 (View Profile)

Posted on 9/11/2007 3:20:10 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 4   

You mean highest surely? And thats only in the US market, there's a whole other world out there where Lexus aren't so popular.

MB are commited to quality, they're making huge drives to get their quality back to the level it was at in the early 90's when they topped every reliability survey going: http://www.whatcar.co.uk/news-article.aspx?NA=218083

— Kinger (View Profile)

Posted on 9/12/2007 5:03:07 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

You mean highest surely? And thats only in the US market, there's a whole other world out there where Lexus aren't so popular.

MB are commited to quality, they're making huge drives to get their quality back to the level it was at in the early 90's when they topped every reliability survey going: http://www.whatcar.co.uk/news-article.aspx?NA=218083

— Kinger (View Profile)

Posted on 9/12/2007 5:03:26 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 0   

lexus has the lowest retention? so that means they retain the fewest buyers...they all go to other brands.

— enthusiastx11 (View Profile)

Posted on 9/12/2007 1:05:49 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

People,

This is proof of how incompetent this person really is. At least as a speaker. Should come as no surprise to everyone here.

— w209w114 (View Profile)

Posted on 9/12/2007 1:40:39 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

How long have Hybrids been out? Mercedes have been working on them for just as long, but didn't want to go "half" way like many Hybrid owners will attest to (nowhere near the fuel savings as promised). With MB's return to it's roots in terms of quality and testing, be sure that they'll once again set the bar.

— mmeecc (View Profile)

Posted on 9/11/2007 2:46:48 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 4   

The current problem with the Lithium Ion battery is that they catch on fire. This occasionally happens in laptops and PDAs and would be disastrous in an auto. It seems MBenz has figured out how to handle this problem. I'm an auto engineer with VERY little hybrid experience but I'm guessing that MBenz is using some type of cooling system for the LI battery pack. Maybe a series of small fans to augment natural cooling.
I have to give them credit for doing this even though they are a competitor of my employer.

— BMW995 (View Profile)

Posted on 9/11/2007 2:48:34 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

The combination of Hybrid with their new patented "DIESOTTO" combustion engine will send everyone including the japanese scrambling for their digital cameras and technology copying engineers....

— mmeecc (View Profile)

Posted on 9/11/2007 2:50:47 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 5   

This will shut up those overly competitive elitist Toyota fanboys. How does it feel like to be beat at your own game? If you ask me this is no surprise.

— w209w114 (View Profile)

Posted on 9/11/2007 3:24:07 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

what are you talking about?
go read the latest JD Powers results and let's quote that in our discussion.

thanks.

— enthusiastx11 (View Profile)

Posted on 9/12/2007 1:07:35 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

Heh, this is a slap in the face for Toylex.

— S4cabriofoxone (View Profile)

Posted on 9/11/2007 6:14:05 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 4   

"But like everything else in this world, the japanese has to be the one who has to clean up the euro and american mess and get it right so it's safe, cheap, reliable for all people to enjoy."

You mean copy the technology after someone else has done all the hard work and worked the kinks out right?

— Kinger (View Profile)

Posted on 9/12/2007 5:07:11 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

I'm all for lowering fuel uesage and emissions. The reason people have been skeptical of hybrids thus far is because they saw through the smoke and mirrors. So far hybrids haven't lived up to the hype with regard to fuel savings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdBVwwRgThU

— Kinger (View Profile)

Posted on 9/12/2007 5:11:01 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: -1   

ACTUALLY, it seems that the 2008 Audi A4 3.0 TDI will not only be the first with Litium Ion Batteries but it will be the cleanest diesel in the world. To top it off, it did not need help from BMW to produce the technology (as did Mercedes).

— MeanVulcan (View Profile)

Posted on 9/12/2007 12:52:43 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

that's interesting...
mercedes is coming with a lithium hybrid before toyota?

according to everyone on this site, toyota is light years ahead of everyone on hybrids. they've been selling priuses for ten years and they couldn't produce a lithium ion battery safely?

— enthusiastx11 (View Profile)

Posted on 9/12/2007 1:03:29 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

imagine a lithium ion battery combined with a diesel engine...that should get rockin' mileage and produce gobs of torque.

— enthusiastx11 (View Profile)

Posted on 9/12/2007 1:04:28 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

whatever the commentary here, this is a great step forward for technology.

— enthusiastx11 (View Profile)

Posted on 9/12/2007 1:10:46 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

houstoncutie2000 - again, not a clue. You mean that Lexus and Toyota has the "highest" retention rate, not the lowest. My god man are you really that dumb?

— Mercedes (View Profile)

Posted on 9/13/2007 1:22:12 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1