(Fri 11 Sep 09)

Mercedes-Benz will be using the Frankfurt Show to display its latest hybrid concept. It's called the Vision S 500 Plug-In Hybrid, and to save you doing any decoding for yourself we can tell you that this means it's based on the S-Class and has a battery pack which can be recharged from the mains rather than - as with non-plug-in hybrids - simply by having energy regenerated under braking.

The combination of a 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine and a 58bhp electric motor gives the car a top speed of just over 155mph and a 0-62mph time of 5.5 seconds. More dramatically, the fact that the Vision S 500 can go be driven for nearly 20 miles on battery power alone means that Mercedes-Benz can claim (at least on a preliminary basis) absolutely astonishing combined fuel economy of 88mpg and a similarly staggering CO2 rating of 74g/km.

The car won't give anything like 88mpg when the lithium-ion battery pack runs out of juice, of course, and it requires four and a half hours to be brought back to square one. There is also a practical problem in that the pack has had to be placed in the boot of the prototype because it's too big to go anywhere else.

All the same, there is definite talk of a similar car going on sale in the medium term. "Although it will take some time before this model can go into series production, our engineers will be working full steam to carry out the necessary integration measures and ensure that all components can meet the tough everyday demands required of a luxury long-distance saloon," says Daimler Board member Dr Thomas Weber. "We've already got all the key technology we need for such a dream car, which is why I see it being included in the next generation of the S-Class.

"The important thing now is that our development work be accompanied by the establishment of a full-coverage infrastructure that will allow the potential of this innovative drive system to be fully exploited."

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