The innovative DIESOTTO concept developed by Mercedes‑Benz has won its first major international award. In recognition of this forward-looking drive system, the well-known UK magazine Autocar presented its prestigious "Safety and Technology Award" to Mercedes-Benz at a ceremony in London.

Autocar's editor Chas Hallet acknowledged the development achievement of the DIESOTTO concept as impressive leading-edge technology with a high degree of practicability and the potential to ensure a bright future, both for the automotive industry and for motorists.

The DIESOTTO drive system combined with a hybrid module, as featured in the Mercedes-Benz F 700, demonstrates that a large and comfortable touring saloon is capable of returning a fuel-consumption figure of just 5.3 litres per 100 kilometres, enabling a drastic reduction in CO2 emissions without compromising on driving comfort and pleasure. As the search for greater efficiency becomes increasingly pressing, neither a car having a high-powered engine nor continuing to further develop the internal combustion engine needs to be called into question.

The award was accepted by Dr. Günter Karl, responsible for advanced petrol engine design in the Group Research & Advanced Engineering Powertrain. "Our DIESOTTO concept shows how, in the medium term, a petrol engine can be made just as efficient as its diesel counterpart and how the internal combustion engine will remain a key drive concept when it comes to meeting private-transport requirements," said Dr. Karl."Today we already use aspects such as direct petrol injection in our latest models, for example in the Mercedes-Benz E 350 CGI and in the Mercedes-Benz CLS 350 CGI. During subsequent stages of development, further DIESOTTO modules will be gradually phased into series-production development."Dr. Karl added: "We are very pleased to receive the Autocar award.

For us, it represents confirmation from an independent source, highlighting the fact that this technology is set to play an important part in ensuring mobility in tomorrow's world. It encourages us to continue working intensively in order to achieve this aim."DIESOTTO technology - an innovative further development of the internal combustion engine - made its first appearance in the Mercedes-Benz F 700 research vehicle at this year's International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt. With its new controlled auto ignition, direct injection and turbocharging system, it combines the high output of a petrol engine with the exemplary torque and low consumption of a diesel engine.

The four-cylinder drive system with two-stage turbocharging in the F 700 achieves the same level of performance as the current S-Class with a 3.5-litre V6 naturally-aspirated petrol engine or the 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel.