Mercedes to Take on Toyota in the Hybrid Market
Ze Germans are on ze war path once again! Although this time it isn’t through Poland. It’s through Toyota.
Everyone knows that Toyota is the largest manufacturer of hybrid cars pretty much around. They cornered that market when they introduced the Prius a decade ago, and as much as anyone has tried, no other auto manufacturer seems to be able to take that crown away from them. That, however, is possibly about to change.
Speaking with CarAdvice, Mercedes development chief Thomas Weber said the company wants at least 10 new plug-in hybrid models by 2017, with a new model coming out every four months or so. That would put them in direct competition with Toyota over who offers more hybrid options across the lineups.
While I don’t consider the two direct competitors, with all the hybrids in Toyota’s Lexus brand, Mercedes now has a shot at overthrowing the Japanese brand and taking back a little bit of the status it has lost to this market. What is critical is that they make the operation between the two engines seamless.
I recently drove one of Toyota’s hybrid EVs, and to be honest, it was terrible. The two engines were in a constant struggle between each other to see which one was supplying the power to the wheels. This made for a ridiculously jarring ride. I can’t imagine Mercedes making a worse product than that, and right now Mercedes is working with Tesla to help develop its electric drivetrains, which are simply fabulous pieces of engineering.
Working in conjunction with the masterminds at Tesla, these new plug-in hybrids should not only be amazingly good on gas, but also fantastic to drive as well. Electrification doesn’t have to be a threat to car lovers. Even a 17-horsepower Renault Twizy can drift.
In fact, those same types of power plants are what is driving all the new exotica these days with all the hybrid hypercars.
Now, let’s just hope AMG gets its hands on a few of these battery packs.