Brits on Pole

Well, here’s an announcement with really far-reaching implications. The car manufacturer Mercedes Benz, motor-racing stalwart and McLaren engine supplier, has reportedly announced that it intends to stop producing cars that run on petrol or diesel.

This week The Sun reported that the manufacturer is developing hydrogen and electricity-powered vehicles and aims to “drip-feed” new eco-fuel vehicles into showrooms. Here’s an excerpt from its story:

Merc plan fuel seven year ditch

The company have already spent £2million on their new long-term Sustainable Mobility plan and are set to invest a further £7billion before 2014.

This includes making current engines even cleaner and more fuel-efficient while increasing the amount of hybrids, emission-free electric cars and clean-fuel gas engines and the further development of battery and hydrogen-powered vehicles.

Mercedes will drip-feed different forms of more eco-friendly vehicles into our showrooms as and when the technology has been developed over the next decade - but the process begins towards the end of this year.

The new A and B-Class models which go on sale in October feature Start/Stop technology - the car’s engine shuts down when it’s stopped at a red light but automatically restarts when you lift your foot from the brake pedal. Read the full story here…

It’ll be fascinating to find out whether this will have any influence on the future direction of motorsport. Because if a manufacturer with the size, prestige and reach of this one gets the sustainable fuel bug, who knows what could happen next…

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