How big a difference can some neat environmental features make to a vehicle? Well if the success of the Mercedes Benz Atego is anything to go by they can make a big difference.
More than 2,600 Mercedes Benz Atego medium-duty trucks with the automatic start/stop system were sold in the first half of 2009 – that’s an increase of about 1,500 units or 130 per cent compared to the total for the whole of 2008.
Indeed 2,000 of the vehicles were sold in Germany alone, an increase of 110 per cent compared to 2008. The share of the vehicles sold with the system already equipped hit an impressive 46 per cent overall and 61 per cent in Germany.
At the moment, the system is available as an option on the Mercedes Benz Atego with manual transmission. It switches the engine off when the truck is stationary for three seconds and when the driver steps on the clutch, the engine starts again.
According to Mercedes, this can reduce fuel consumption by around three per cent with even greater savings if the truck is used purely for city driving. There are environmental benefits too, with a corresponding decrease in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
