A report in the U.K.' Sun this week makes the claim "Mercedes are aiming to end the need for filling your fuel tank with petrol or diesel within just seven years." The paper goes on to assert that Mercedes-Benz engineers believe that their lineup can be gasoline-free by 2015, and plan to "drip-feed different forms of more eco-friendly vehicles into showrooms."
It's a breathtaking claim. Kicking Tires calls it "a bit misleading." What M-B engineer Herbert Hohler actually told the Sun, apparently, is that he believes "alternative fuel and electric vehicles" could be "dominant in urban areas by 2015." Mercedes is doing significant research into electric cars, fuel-cell vehicles and other alternative forms of propulsion. "But then again, so is everyone else. … It's one thing to invest in fuel-efficient technology and another to say that in seven years an automaker will only manufacture cars that don't need a drop of gasoline."
Autoblog comments, "On the face of it, seven years to go diesel- and gas-optional for an entire fleet is somewhat hard to fathom -- but the prediction is coming from a company not previously known for wild daring."
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