Mercedes S500 Plug-in Hybrid revealed – gets official 94.2mpg

Mercedes has revealed its third hybrid model – the Mercedes S500 Plug in Hybrid – which gets 94.2mpg and debuts at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

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There will come a point when legislators wake up and realise that car makers are getting too clever at gaming their CO2 based taxation and change the goal posts. But until then, cars like the new Mercedes S500 Plug in Hybrid – revealed today – are the perfect company buy.

That’s because the clever use of a plug-in electric motor coupled with a relatively frugal ICE engine – in the case of the S500 Plug-in a 329bhp 3.0 litre V6 and 80kW electric motor – produce official economy and emissions figures that are really only valid under test conditions but save a big chunk of tax for buyers.

Those figures for the plug-in S500 are 94.2mph and emissions of just 69g/km, despite the S500 managing 0-62mph in just 5.5 seconds.

Mercedes say the S500 plug-in can run for almost 19 miles as an EV and it gets lots of new tech like second-generation regenerative braking – which switches off the engine when coasting and reclaims the energy from the wheels – and anticipatory energy management that uses the Nav to plot the upcoming 5 miles to set the car up to be as energy efficient as possible.

It’s a very clever package and shows how smart car makers can be, with the S500 plug-in achieveing economy and emission levels comparable to the most frugal of city cars.

The new Mercedes S500 Plug-in Hybrid will debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show next month and launch in 2014.