Mercedes-Benz is going towards the 3-litre S500

While the S 400 HYBRID is the first, and so far the only European hybrid model in the luxury class, the three-pointed star is actively endorsing a vision of an plug-in HYBRID version of that large, safe car that could be able to achieve the fuel efficiency of only 3.2 litres of petrol per 100 km of road travelled.

The Vision S 500 Plug-in HYBRID is close-to-production prototype also has an electric-only range of 30 kilometres. Its combined power tops at around 370 hp.

At IAA 2009 in Frankfurt the big luxury class plug-in hybrid wasn’t one to take the limelight out of the luxury supersports car segment represented by the shining new SLS AMG Gullwing. The visitors were shown the technology prospects of an electric-drive SLS AMG with an emissions-free hi-tech driveline.

An “electric” version of the Gullwing would use four electric motors with a combined output of 392 kW and a maximum torque of 880 Nm. Enough for the sprint from 0 to 100 km/h in around four seconds, and competitive to the SLS AMG with its 420 kW AMG 6.3 litre V8 petrol engine assembled by AMG's engineers.