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Mercedes-Benz cut fleetwide emissions by 4.3 percent last year

Mercedes-Benz says it reduced its fleetwide vehicle emissions by 4.3 percent last year. Of course, the German automaker has another 29 percent to go to meet the European Commission's 2020 mandate. But who's counting? Mercedes' luxury and sports car bent has made it a relative laggard when it comes to increasing fleetwide fuel-efficiency, but the company did reduce emissions from 140 grams of CO2 per kilometer to 134 last year. The company's fleetwide fuel efficiency (calculated using the lenient European standard) was 5.4 liters per 100 kilometers, which equals about 44 miles per gallon and represents a 25-percent jump since 2007. Benz has come a long way from its gas-swilling V8 tanks of the 1970s. In fact, the company said its top performer, in the fuel-efficiency sense, was the diesel-powered B180 CDI BlueEfficiency Edition, which consumes 3.8 liters per 100 kilometers. That equals about 62 mpg (again, on the lenient scale). The company got some additional good press by revealing that Winfried Kretschmann, Minister-President of the German State of Baden-Wurttemberg, drives a Mercedes-Benz S300 BlueTEC Hybrid. Not exactly a Nissan Leaf, mind you, but it's a start, as is the company's efforts to bring its fleetwide emissions ever closer to the 95g CO2/km level that the EC is mandating by 2020. Take a look at Mercedes-Benz's press release below. Minister-President of the German State of Baden-Wurttemberg, Winfried Kretschmann (left), with Prof. Dr. Thomas Weber (right) and a Mercedes-Benz S-Class S 300 BlueTEC HYBRID Fleet fuel consumption for Mercedes-Benz Cars falls to 134 g CO2/km: Top efficiency figures in all vehicle classes Stuttgart, Apr 08, 2014 Benefit for the environment and customers: In almost all vehicle classes, Mercedes-Benz offers the most efficient vehicle in the competitive lineup. Moreover, in 2013 the company was able to reduce the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions[1] of the Mercedes-Benz Cars EU new vehicle fleet by a further six grams, to 134 g CO2/km. This means that in 2013, the average fleet consumption was 5.4 litres/100 km – a reduction by 24.7 percent since 2007. At present the company offers more than 50 models emitting less than 120 g CO2/km and 71 models emitting less than 130 g CO2/km. Customers can find vehicles in the Mercedes-Benz model range that consume considerably less fuel than competing models. "With our model initiative we want to be the leading premium manufacturer by 2020 again, says Prof.

Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 teases gullwing doors in video

Because these are the times we live in, automakers tease their biggest and best debuts mercilessly before finally dropping the curtain. That's why we're writing about the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 Concept again. Here's a new video, posted on Mercedes' Instagram page, showing even more of the hulking two-door coupe. For one, it looks like Mercedes is revisiting gullwing doors. There's a brief snippet of the doors in the open position with a red light – possibly a brake light – bisecting the roof. The video also gives us a couple of good looks at the taillights, which are super-model skinny, just like the lamps up front. Look close at the rear three-quarter cut, and you'll spot a strong chrome strip that accentuates and breaks up those beefy rear haunches. It's hard to tell where they fit in with the chrome strips on the front fenders and hood, so we'll probably need to wait until the big debut to see how it all works out. As we've said twice already, the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 debuts on August 18. Stay tuned. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

F1 title fight gets closer | 2016 US Grand Prix recap

We ran into an old friend at the US Grand Prix: an on-form Lewis Hamilton. Reliability and proper clutch actuation helped the Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver resurrect the kind of performance we haven't seen since July at the German Grand Prix. After demolishing the previous qualifying record around the Circuit of the Americas, he put the field in his mirrors as soon as the lights went out, was never bothered by anyone behind, and crossed the finish line 4.5 seconds ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg. The drive was exactly what Hamilton needed to keep his molecule-thin Championship hopes alive. Rosberg, however, did exactly what he needed to do as well by finishing second. The German had a sketchier path to the checkered flag than Hamilton, getting pushed back to the third at the start by Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo. Worse, Ricciardo appeared to have the pace to keep Hamilton honest ahead and hold Rosberg behind. Red Bull and Mercedes matched one another's pit stops, and it was clear the German would need more help to pass the Aussie. Rosberg didn't have to make his own luck, Ricciardo's teammate Max Verstappen made the luck for him. Ricciardo pitted on Lap 26, ceding second position on track to Rosberg. On Lap 30, Verstappen's gearbox failed while headed down the back straight. The Dutch teenager said the team told him to try to get the car back to the pits, so he dawdled through a few corners before following more team orders to pull over and park. Verstappen's parking spot and bad gearbox meant marshals couldn't push the car off the track, they needed to use a crane. That brought out a Virtual Safety Car, slowing the whole race down and allowing Rosberg to run a longer stint while losing less time on old tires. When the German came in for new tires on Lap 31 he emerged ahead of Ricciardo, and they ran that way to the end of the race, much to Ricciardo's disappointment. Sebastian Vettel claimed fourth for Ferrari, a placing perhaps due only to Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen retiring from the race. An otherwise anonymous weekend for the scuderia called attention to itself on race day when Raikkonen had to call it a day after a botched pit stop, and Vettel couldn't make any impression on the teams ahead. Fernando Alonso rode home to a brilliant fifth for McLaren. During the first stint while rummaging around outside the top ten, the Spaniard complained about his lack of pace. By Lap 15 Alonso was tenth, on Lap 34 he was eighth.