Mercedes 2013 Annual Report Download - page 103

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C | Combined Management Report | Sustainability
and complying with new emission standards, working on alter-
native drive systems and the successor generations of existing
products. R&D expenditure at Mercedes-Benz Vans concen-
trated on the successor models of the Vito and the Viano.
The Daimler Buses division primarily focused its development
activities on new products, compliance with new emissions
standards, and alternative drive systems.
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Innovation and safety
A tradition of innovation. Innovations have played a key
role at our company ever since Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler
invented the automobile. Today, they are more important
than ever before, because the accelerated pace of technological
development and the challenges posed by climate change
and environmental protection policies face us with the task
of reinventing the automobile. Our customers expect safe,
comfortable and powerful vehicles that are simultaneously
becoming ever more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly.
In order to meet these requirements, we are forging ahead
with our work in the research and development units.
On the road to emission-free mobility. Finite oil reserves,
rising energy prices, population growth – especially in urban
centers – and the unabated demand for mobility require
new solutions for all aspects of transport. Our aim is to offer
an intelligent mix of drive systems for every need. We intend
to significantly reduce the fuel consumption and pollutant emis-
sions of our vehicles today and to eliminate them entirely
in the long term. We are implementing this intelligent mix of drive
systems for our cars and commercial vehicles as part of
our “Road to Emission-free Driving” strategy. We have defined
the following focal areas for this approach:
1. We continue to enhance our vehicles with state-of-the-art
internal-combustion engines that we are optimizing to
achieve significantly lower fuel consumption and emissions.
2. We are achieving further perceptible increases in efficiency
through customized hybridization, i.e. the combination
of combustion engines and electric motors.
3. Our electric vehicles, powered by batteries or fuel cells,
are making locally emission-free driving possible.
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During the year under review, new products and technologies
enabled us to make continued rapid progress on the “Road
to Emission-free Driving.” The following examples show how
this is happening.
Efficient cars and commercial vehicles with internal-
combustion engines. Much of our research and development
work continues to focus on making our cars and commercial
vehicles with internal combustion engines even more efficient.
The especially economical BlueEFFICIENCY models are reducing
the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of our Mercedes-Benz
cars and vans compared with the predecessor vehicles by
up to 30% for certain models. This reduction is made possible
by engines with small displacements and turbochargers, as
well as by lightweight engineering, aerodynamic improvements,
tires with low roll resistance, demand-appropriate energy
management and an automatic start-stop function. A good exam-
ple of this is the A 180 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY Edition1, which
we began to deliver to customers in March 2013. The car
consumes only 3.6 liters of diesel per 100 kilometers and emits
only 92 grams of CO2 per kilometer. The new S-Class also
features numerous coordinated modifications of the body,
the engines and the ancillary components that substantially
reduce fuel consumption. The new C-Class, which will be
delivered to customers beginning in the spring of 2014, boasts
impressive fuel efficiency. Thanks to intelligent lightweight
engineering, the overall vehicle weighs about 100 kilograms less
than its predecessor. The weight reduction significantly
reduces fuel consumption to levels that are the best in this
segment.
Road to emission-free mobility
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Energy for the future
Optimizing our vehicles
with modern conventional
powertrains
Hybridization for further
increase in efficiency
Locally emission-free
driving with electric
vehicles powered by
fuel cells or batteries
Clean fuels for internal combustion engines Energy sources for locally emission-free driving
1 A 180 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY Edition: fuel consumption in l/100 km
urban 4,2 / extra-urban 3,2 / combined 3,6;
CO2 emissions in g/km combined 92.