German Car Scene

Lotus Tweaks Mercedes’ Electric S-Class

Posted 9th July, 2007 in Mercedes | 1 Comment

Mercedes’ forthcoming S-class Hybrid has been spotted leaving the Lotus premises in Norfolk, England..

It’s thought that the boffins at Lotus have been helping Mercedes with the final tweaks on the car’s switching mechanism, which controls the activation of the drivetrain’s electric motors.

The hybrid model will use the company’s 3.5L 268bhp V6 petrol engine, working in tandem with an electric motor positioned ahead of the car’s front-mounted automatic gearbox, and driving directly into it.

That should be enough to increase power output to nearly 300bhp all told, to send it to 62mph in 7.5sec, but also return an average 35mpg. A production version of the car will be shown at the Frankfurt show in September.

[Source: Autocar]