Mercedes-Benz is truly beyond just a luxury car brand as it pocketed the Environment Grand Prize for its innovative DIESOTTO engine at the 23rd Festival Automobile International held at the Les Invalides Hotel in Paris last February 6.

The coveted award proved that the German automaker is competent to design and to produce critical car technologies that are geared toward the wellness of the environment. Mercedes-Benz successfully fused its high performing Mercedes-Benz parts with the green benefits of the DIESOTTO engine and that made such product worthy of the top prize of the festival. The Environment Grand Prize was accepted by Professor Peter Pfeiffer, who is the head of design for the company, and Reinhardt Lyhs, who is the president of Mercedes-Benz France. Seasoned Formula-1 champ Alain Prost and former Le Point editor-in-chief Franz-Olivier Giesbert were the presenters of the title.

Mercedes-Benz’ creation of the DIESOTTO engine has the integration of a V6 petrol engine that boasts of power and responsiveness and a diesel power plant that burns fuel efficiently minus the noxious exhaust emissions. Moreover, turbo charging, variable compression ratio, and direct fuel injection are also part of the engine system. Such features allow the production of 238-horsepower and 20-horsepower, when in hybrid mode. A huge chunk of the usual Nitrogen oxide emission is also removed courtesy of the engine and its closed-loop catalytic converter. These remarkable benefits are made possible because of the precision-engineered four-cylinder DIESOTTO power plant.

“The DIESOTTO concept provides an important basis for the future of the internal combustion engine. It assures personal mobility into the future and demonstrates the great innovative strength of the automobile industry,” the jury at the Festival Automobile International said.

According to Pfeiffer, Mercedes-Benz, along with Daimler and Smart ForTwo, is in continues pursuit of improving the performance of its vehicles so that its products will all be equipped with the necessities that could be crucial to meet the future automobile requirements.

Source: Daimler via Auto Spectator.