Well we get them sort of. With oil exploring new highs and gasoline prices here slowly rising for the last couple of weeks (premium back up to $3.20 or more a gal) it's nice to have another alternative.


"Diesel auto arrives from Mercedes
LEASE CAR FIRST OF ITS TYPE ALLOWED BY STATE IN NEARLY A DECADE
By Matt Nauman
San Jose Mercury News


Mercedes-Benz started leasing diesel-powered sedans in California Monday, the first new diesel passenger cars available in the state in nearly a decade.

The 2008 Mercedes-Benz E320 Bluetec sedan will be offered in limited numbers in two-year/24,000-mile leases, the German automaker said. The program uses a short timetable so that these cars will be coming off lease as the next-generation of Mercedes diesels that meet federal regulations as well as those of every state arrive.

"This is a bridge vehicle," a Mercedes spokeswoman said.

The automaker didn't say how much the lease would cost, but said it would be comparable to the rates for its E350 gasoline-powered sedan, which usually are $650 to $700 per month.

Mercedes "has developed a diesel emission control system that results in a car as clean as comparable gasoline vehicles being sold here," Tom Cackette, head of the state's Air Resources Board, said in a statement.

The company said the car gets 20 to 40 percent better fuel efficiency than a comparable car with a gasoline engine and has a 700-mile range. According to the federal government, the '08 E320 Bluetec gets 23 mpg in city driving and 32 mpg on the highway. The gasoline-powered E350 gets 17 mpg city and 24 mpg highway.

Currently, no new diesel-powered cars are sold in California because they don't meet the state's stringent emission standards. But researcher J.D. Power and Associates forecasts sales of the vehicles will triple nationwide by 2015.

Volkswagen has said it would put a diesel version of its Jetta compact that meets California emissions regulations on sale in early 2008. Other automakers are expected to start selling diesels here by the end of the decade.

Bluetec is a marketing name adopted by Mercedes and some other German carmakers for clean-diesel technology. Some future diesels will use a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) device that uses a urea solution to lower emissions. Mercedes is calling this solution AdBlue."

 

Too bad Cali diesel prices are about $0.50 a gallon more than regular gas...

However, the mileage range is superb!

 

btw, when does new EPA/Cali regulation come in place?

 

As for the diesel prices you are sort of right. I haven't watched lately but for a while it was more expensive than premium gas but that has declined somewhat, I will try to get a number later on when I go out.

I was aware that Cali had some diesel regs coming on line, maybe 2010 but I am not certain. I assume that is why MB is doing this strange two year lease deal on them. But the article seems to be saying that MB will have an appropriate diesel for the new regs as well.

Here in Cali we haven't had the diesel option for better mileage so this pretty interesting, especially as gasoline is heading back up. If you wanted better mileage you really had hybrid and not much else for full size cars.

Alternatives and competition are good.

 

This is awesome.

Ron, will these cars come with the AdBlue tank? If so, let me guess, that tank is good for 24K

 

Heh Doug, I am sure they will come with the AdBlue tank. I haven't focused on how long the additive lasts because we couldn't get these things here but it seems the last reading I did on it, it does last quite a long time and is serviced at the service intervals. If it does last 24K, this might be an entertaining lease for 24 months. My understanding is that the reason Cali diesel is so expensive is that we have a low sulphur content diesel and even with that the stories are flying around that they won't let diesels of any shape run in the state without meeting the new rules. Hard to believe but we just had a report on a radio station about truckers at the port of Oakland being squeezed by having to update their trucks to meet the new emissions for diesels. I still think getting these high tech diesels here is a good thing and I hope bimmer and Audi follow suit with their diesels.