| Until
recently, it was Japanese carmakers that had succeeded in making small,
hybrid economy cars, while the German and other European marques devoted
their resources to making excellent diesel engines. However, in the wake
of Lexus' successful foray into making luxury hybrids, luxury marques Mercedes-Benz
and BMW have realized the importance of developing a petrol hybrid car that
would appeal to the all-important North American market, where diesel is
less popular.
The German giants have teamed up with General Motors to develop both
full hybrid cars that have integrated electric motors and batteries supplementing
an internal combustion engine, as well as “mild” version of
the system. The trio is working on a mild hybrid set-up (which omits the
electric motors) for BMW, while it remains unclear at present whether
Mercedes-Benz's hybrid will be full or mild. In either case, according
to Thomas Weber, Mercedes-Benz's chief of Group Research, the Stuttgart-based
company will start selling hybrid cars in 2009.
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