The 2011 North American International Auto Show is still a few days away, but Mercedes became the latest manufacturer to release early photos of its 2012 S350 BlueTEC 4MATIC diesel sedan before its official debut.
The 2012 S350 BlueTEC is already on sale in Europe and this year becomes the latest clean diesel to make it to the U.S. market. It will be outfitted with the same 3.0-liter turbodiesel V6 engine that's in the E350, ML350, GL350, and R350 BlueTEC diesels already on the market. Although specs for the AWD diesel sedan, in the ML350, the same engine produces 210 horsepower and 400 ft-lbs. torque.
Pricing hasn't been released for the S350, but diesels tend to run about $1,500 more than their internal combusion engine counterparts due to the additional exhaust trapping equipment needed to comply with California's emissions standards.
Unfortunately, the tax incentives that applied to the other BlueTECs expired on January 1, but with the price of a barrel of oil creeping closer to that $100 mark, the improved fuel economy could make the higher price point seem more reasonable. The 2012 Mercedes S350 BlueTec TEC will go on sale later this year.