From left to right: Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of DaimlerChrysler and Head of Mercedes Car Group is not dancing with the stars Emmit Smith, American Football Legend, and Cheryl Burke, Dancing Star. Click for a high-res version.

Diesels, even clean diesels, can't compare to plug-in hybrids or EVs for newsworthiness (or hype), but a lot of CO2 emissions will be saved from polluting our atmosphere thanks to cleaner diesel engines in the coming decades. While the Volt is stirring passions of green car drivers around the world, Mercedes is at the Detroit Auto Show with two greener cars with a little less of a splash: the new 4MATIC and the Vision GL 420 BlueTec concept.

The 4MATIC is a new S-Class that has the fourth generation Mercedes-Benz four-wheel drive system, which uses less fuel than previous Mercedes engines. At least, I think so. Read this sentence (from the DaimlerChrysler AG press release) and tell me if you agree: "The new 4MATIC combines agility, comfort and enhanced traction with considerably reduced fuel consumption which is roughly (0.1 gallons / 0.4 liters) more than that of a comparable model with rear-wheel drive." So the sentence says "considerable reduced...which is more." I think it means that overall the fuel consumption of the 4MATIC is less than older Mercedes, but not as low as comparable rear-wheel driver cars? Make sense? DC goes on to say that the lighter weight of the 4MATIC helps with the change in fuel consumption.

Moving on.

The big BlueTec news at the NAIAS is the Vision GL 420 BlueTec concept car, which Mercedes says, "demonstrates that BLUETEC(R) makes it possible for large and powerful vehicles in particular to offer good fuel economy and the lowest possible emission levels." The Vision GL 420 has a V8 diesel engine that delivers 216 kW (290 hp) and generates 700 Nm (515 lb-ft) of torque, while burning an expected 9.8 liters per 100 km (24 mpg). This concept uses second-stage BlueTec technology with AdBlue injection that will eliminate more than 80 percent of the NOx emissions, and is compliant with the strict BIN 5 regulations, just like the three new V6 BlueTec models - the R 320 BlueTec, ML 320 BlueTec and the GL 320 BlueTec – Mercedes will bring to the U.S next year.

Read the press release after the jump and click on the image above for a high-resolution version. Click here to read all of AutoblogGreen's NAIAS coverage.

[Source: DaimlerChrysler AG]