As you may remember, back in June we told you that on October 21st, 33 Mercedes E-Class vehicles featuring clean diesel technology would be setting out on a remarkable journey, tracing the route of the world's first intercontinental race by travelling from Paris to Beijing.  We also told you that the event, scheduled to take 26 days, would be completed by 330 participants from 35 nations, many of whom would be selected by registering through an online application found on Mercedes' international website.

With the application process now closed, the participants chosen and the event beginning drawing nigh, Mercedes today has re-published its earlier press release detailing many of the highlights those fortunate to be embarking on Paris to Beijing trip will experience; or for those of you who didn't make the cut, many of the highlights you'll undoubtedly wish you were you experiencing.

If you didn't catch our earlier story about the E-Class Experience, believe me, it sounds like it's going to be one hell of a good time.

For more info, keep reading for the full press release describing the E-Class Experience from Paris to Beijing; and to the select few of you chosen to take part, have a great trip.



OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE


Automotive adventure between Europa and Asia: With the Mercedes-Benz E-Class from Paris to Beijing

Stuttgart, Oct 18, 2006
On October 21st, 33 E-Class cars with clean diesel drive start on a fascinating long-distance drive covering around 13,600 kilometres from Paris to Beijing, where local production of the business saloon has been under way since September 15. The symbolic bridging between Europe and Asia over long stretches of the journey follows the route of the first transcontinental car race in history, which started exactly 99 years ago from Peking to Paris. The winner reached his destination in 62 days. With the modern E-Class cars, Mercedes-Benz aims to accomplish this journey, parts of which are unpassable areas, in only 26 days. The sporting challenge for the roughly 330 participants from 35 nations is to achieve the lowest possible fuel consumption for the separate stages and the overall distance.

With this automotive marathon, Mercedes-Benz is once again demonstrating the capabilities of its latest diesel engines with respect to emissions, economy and operating range, even under the most extreme conditions. In addition to 30 E 320 CDI models, some of which feature 4MATIC four-wheel drive, three E-Class cars equipped with BLUETEC are included. This forward-looking technology makes the Mercedes-Benz saloon the world’s cleanest diesel car. The E 320 BLUETEC is the first and only diesel worldwide that can undercut the US exhaust emission standard BIN 8, which is particularly stringent with respect to nitrogen oxide emissions. From October 15, 2006 the E 320 BLUETEC will initially become available in the USA (in 45 states) and Canada, and consumes up to 30 per cent less fuel than comparable petrol-engined cars in North America. Mercedes-Benz also aims to offer passenger cars with BLUETEC to its European customers by 2008 at the latest. Owing to its enormous operating range of up to 1,200 kilometres with a full tank, it is ideally suited to an automotive marathon like the Paris-Beijing event – as is the E 320 CDI.

Nine countries, two continents, six time zones

The long-distance journey from Europe to Asia passes through France, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia and Kazakhstan before ending in China. This event is not only a particular challenge owing to very low temperatures, ice, snow and short hours of daylight. Absolving the daily stages of up to 750 kilometres through sometimes unpassable areas, under unusual traffic conditions and crossing passes at altitudes of up to 2,900 metres will require outstanding concentration, experience and fitness of the approximately 330 drivers from 35 nations, who will take turns at the wheel during the five 1,900 to 3,400-kilometre stages of the event. They include international journalists, celebrities and online applicants who were chosen from more than 50,000 who expressed interest in the Internet. Including the accompanying vehicles, the “E-Class Experience” fleet numbers around 60 cars.

The most unusual vehicle in the fleet is an E-Class taxi from Paris, which will accompany the convoy for the entire distance across eight national borders and six time zones. Altogether the 33 diesel saloons will cover around 450,000 kilometres within 26 days, corresponding to eleven and a half times the orbit around the earth on the equator. Their arrival in Peking is planned for November 17.

The glories of old Europe

The first stage stretches over approximately 3,400 kilometres from Paris to Stuttgart, Berlin and Warsaw as well as the Baltic capitals of Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn to finish in St. Petersburg. On their way, the participants pass some of the most beautiful places of old Europe, as well as widely unspoiled regions like the Masurian lakes in the north east of Poland.

East of Moscow, which the teams will reach at the beginning of the second stage, the unknown part of Europe begins. Cities like Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan on the so-called “Wolga Highway”, the inner harbour town of Perm or Yekaterinburg, situated on the other side of the Ural Mountains, the imaginary frontier between Europe and Asia are to most participants “terra incognita”, as are the regions they will drive through for around 2,700 kilometres: Chuvashia, Tatarstan and Udmurtia.

On the trail of the automotive pioneers

Until Yekaterinburg the route of the E-Class long-distance journey mostly follows the original route of the first transcontinental car race in history, which started in Peking on June 10, 1907, exactly 99 years ago. “Is there anybody who would like to go by car from Paris to Peking this summer?”, the French newspaper “Le Matin” had asked in January 1907 in its search for fearless drivers. The initiators’ aim was to demonstrate the technical superiority of the car over the horse. After the race had been reversed in direction owing to weather conditions, thus starting in Peking, eleven adventurers with five automobiles started their journey into the unknown on June 10, 1907. Prince Scipione Borghese entered the lists in an Italian Itala with 40 hp. Charles Godard drove a Dutch Spyker with 15 hp, accompanied by a Le Matin reporter. Two other vehicles, French De Dion Boutons with 10 hp, were driven by the car dealers Collignon and Cormier, and another Frenchman, Auguste Pons, participated in a three-wheeled Contal with 6 hp.

10,000 miles later, after trials and tribulations which are unimaginable today, Scipione Borghese reached Paris after 62 days on August 10, 1907. And he had even taken a detour to St. Petersburg to attend a ball. Collignon, Cormier and Godard reached their destination three weeks later. Auguste Pons had been obliged to retire from the race shortly after the start, as his three-wheeler proved unequal to the hardships of the Gobi desert.

From Europe’s east to China’s west

At Yekaterinburg the E-Class fleet leaves the original route of 1907 and – rather than going through Siberia – makes its way through Kazakhstan in the direction of China. The third, 2,500-kilometre stage leads from Kostanai and the new Kazakh capital of Astana to Almaty, the country’s old capital. During this stage the participants will cross the vast expanse of the Kazakhian steppe and the “Steppe of Hunger”, in the middle of which lies an uninhabited region the size of Hungary. From Almaty the fourth stage of approximately 3,100 kilometres takes the drivers into Western China. North of the Taklamakan desert, the contrasts could not be any more extreme. Only a few hours drive lie between the lonely yurt camps of the nomads and new cities like Ürümqi, while only a few minute’s drive separate the sandy oasis town of Turfan from its fertile wine-growing district.

On the Silk Road to the Yellow River

22 days after starting off in Paris, to the south of Hami, the E-Class teams will join another legendary route: the Silk Road. Following this historical trade route, the participants will reach the western offshoots of the Great Wall and finally, at the end of the fourth stage in Lanzhou, meet yet another Chinese transport artery: the Yellow River.

Around 1,900 kilometres of the last stage remain to be covered before the drivers arrive at the final destination of their journey. Initially the route follows the valley of the Yellow River, then crosses the outer reaches of the Gobi desert and the grass pastures of Inner Mongolia. On November 17, the 26th driving day and 28 days after the start in Paris, the drivers are expected to reach the finishing post for this remarkable long-distance drive of 13,600 kilometres: the Yongding Gate in the centre of Beijing. On the following day “AutoChina 2006”, the most important national motor show this year, opens its doors in the Chinese capital. The new products on display include the locally produced E-Class, which has now commenced production in a new plant within the Beijing Development Area as part of a joint venture.

Business class for Chinese drivers

The E-Class made in China is among the highlights of the leading Chinese automotive fair, which takes place biannually in turns with “Auto Shanghai”. The business saloon for Chinese customers will be produced in a completely new plant operated by Beijing Benz-DaimlerChrysler Automotive Ltd. (BBDC). BBDC is a joint venture between DaimlerChrysler AG and its longstanding partner Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Company (BAIC). BBDC is an expansion of the Beijing Jeep Corp., China’s first automotive joint venture, which started building Jeeps in 1984.

The new BBDC plant with a site area of two million square metres is located in the Beijing Development Area (BDA) in the south-east of the city. The Mercedes-Benz E-Class and the Mitsubishi Outlander are currently produced there in a production area of 210,000 square metres. Production of the Chrysler 300C Saloon is to commence shortly, and production of the next-generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class is also planned. BBDC has an annual production capacity for up to 25,000 Mercedes-Benz vehicles and 80,000 Chrysler and MMC vehicles, and there is scope to expand this if necessary.

The safest car in its class

The new generation of the E-Class as a technology trendsetter once again sets new standards, and with the standard PRE-SAFE® safety system, the likewise standard NECK-PRO headrests, the novel Intelligent Light System and adaptive brake light, it features innovations which no other automobile worldwide in this market segment has to offer. This comprehensive safety equipment makes the E-Class the safest car in its class. The new DIRECT CONTROL package with direct steering, a newly tuned chassis and six new or enhanced engines ensures significantly more agility and driving pleasure. While maintaining the same, favourable fuel economy, the new E-Class develops up to 26 per cent more performance and 18 per cent more torque.

The power of a V8 with the fuel consumption of a 4-cylinder

The V6 diesel engine of the E 320 CDI, which is the power plant in the fleet cars undertaking the long-distance journey, develops an output of 165 kW/224 hp and a maximum torque of 540 newton metres. Accordingly the V6 unit combines the power of a V8-engine with the fuel consumption of a 4-cylinder – normally just 7.3 to 7.6 litres per 100 km. The economical and clean power pack had its debut in May 2005, again with an unusual acid test. In three series-production E 320 CDI cars, the engine completed a failure-free, 30-day test marathon on a high-speed circuit in Laredo, Texas. The results were three FIA-acknowledged diesel world records over 100,000 kilometres at an average speed of 225.93 km/h, 50,000 miles at 225.456 km/h and 100,000 miles at 224.823 km/h. In spite of the extraordinary stresses, the maintenance-free diesel particulate filter worked without any losses over the entire record distance – clear proof of the reliability and longevity of this exhaust technology.

“70 years after Mercedes-Benz as the first car producer introduced the diesel engine in passenger cars, we now want to underline the performance of our modern diesel technology with the long-distance journey from Paris to Beijing”, explains Dr Thomas Weber, member of the board of DaimlerChrysler AG and responsible for Group Research & Development at the Mercedes Car Group. ”We wish to demonstrate that modern diesel engines have a very promising future throughout the world – including countries where diesel technology has not yet been used in passenger cars.“ As fuel prices increase, the latest JD Power study “Global Outlook For Diesel“ forecasts a worldwide trend towards diesel cars and expects the global diesel market share to rise from currently 18 to around 30 per cent in 2015.

Copyright © 2006, DaimlerChrysler AG