A few updates from the U.S. federal government regarding cleaner vehicles. First, we have the official DOE fuel economy numbers for the 2009 Prius: 48 mpg in the city, 45 on the highway for a combined rating of 46 mpg. If that looks familiar, it's because it's the same as the 2008 Prius (and the 2007 and 2006 ...) But here's something that's new (maybe): has the FuelEconomy site always had the "switch units" option? I hadn't noticed it before but it caught my eye today because of the whole gallons per mile debate we had earlier this summer. Anyway, this option is easy to see on the DOE site - which remembers your setting - and we can clearly see that the 2009 Prius uses 2.2 gallons to go 100 miles.

Now, about the Advanced Lean Burn Technology Motor Vehicle income tax credit, which the Jetta TDI qualified for earlier this year. As Mercedes-Benz hoped, the company's three new BLUETEC SUVs do qualify for the credit, which is good on diesel vehicles "purchased or placed into service after December 31, 2005." The DOE includes this helpful note: "No eligible vehicles were manufactured for sale until 2008." The exact credit values are pasted after the jump. Thanks to Shaun for the tip.

[Source: DOE]

Click the ML320 BLUETEC for a high res gallery

Mercedes-Benz kicked off the race to the finish line for 50-state legal, urea-injected diesels this week with a first drive in Vermont. Mercedes chose Vermont for the international media debut of its BLUETEC diesel SUVs for the scenic vistas and the fact that the Green Mountain state is one of the states that has chosen to enforce California emissions standards. Those emission standards are by far the tightest in the world, particularly when it comes to diesel engines. The Tier 2 Bin 5 standard regulates emissions of nitrogen oxides to one fifth the level of the upcoming Euro 5 emissions standards.

A whole new batch of T2B5 compliant diesel-powered vehicles are on their way to U.S. car dealers starting this summer with the VW Jetta TDI. Mercedes aims to beat BMW to market with larger diesel vehicles. The existing ML320, GL320 and R320 CDI models are only available for sale in 45 states. The CDI models are being replaced for 2009 by BlueTec models that add selective catalytic reduction (SCR) after-treatment systems to the existing particulate filter and oxidation catalyst. Mercedes is already the first manufacturer to get T2B5 certification. Read on after the jump to find out how they behave on the road.


Photos Copyright ©2008 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.

Click above for high-res gallery of the Mercedes BlueTEC diesel SUVs

During at the New York Auto Show this past March, Mercedes announced that it would begin selling three clean diesel SUVs with BlueTEC - the R 320 BlueTEC, the ML 320 BlueTEC and the GL 320 BlueTEC - in America. The SUVs won't be available until the fall, but Daimler released a slew of new photos of the large diesels today and a detailed release reminding us about these U.S. Bin 5 standard compliant vehicles. In case you were curious, the photos show that these SUVs can pull horses, cross long brldges, and park in front of large houses. We'll see if these decent-but-not-great mileage SUVs (the GL 320 BlueTEC gets 25mpg) can convince customers to pull the trigger with diesel fuel running around $5 a gallon. Read more after the jump.

click to enlarge and see more high-res images

The news out this morning that the three Mercedes-Benz BlueTEC SUVs will be available in all fifty states in the fall (aka election time) was turned into faux political rally during the Benz press event here at the New York Auto Show. The spiel was that the diesel SUVs - the R 320 BlueTEC, the ML 320 BlueTEC and the GL 320 BlueTEC - are the "clean" candidates for your vote/dollar. Somehow Benz roped in about 80 people to wear "Vote For BlueTEC" buttons and cheer for the cars. We'll have a video of all this hoopla later after the jump, but we wanted to bring you pictures straightaway.