Mercedes-Benz is continuing to build on its world-leading position in the field of clean diesel technology. The Stuttgart-based manufacturer has become the world's first car producer to receive a certificate for licensing BlueTEC SUVs in all 50 US states.

Mercedes-Benz will shortly be launching three BlueTEC SUVs – the ML 320 BlueTEC, the R 320 BlueTEC and the GL 320 BlueTEC – featuring the technology for the world's cleanest diesels. The vehicles, which will first be available in the US, comply with the extremely strict requirements of the American Bin 5 and ULEV emission standards, making Mercedes-Benz the first manufacturer to be able to license diesel SUVs in all 50 US states. Following the successful market launch of the "clean diesel pioneer" – E 320 BlueTEC – in October 2006, this new step – which coincides with the 150th anniversary of Rudolf Diesel’s birth – is another extremely important milestone in the diesel initiative launched by Mercedes-Benz.

As a modular concept for reducing emissions from diesel vehicles in an efficient manner, the Mercedes-Benz-developed BlueTEC technology incorporates a raft of harmonised technical measures for the effective aftertreatment of exhaust gases. Components used in this process include an oxidising catalytic converter and a particulate filter. The primary objective, however, is to reduce nitrogen-oxide emissions drastically, since these are now the only exhaust-gas constituents that are more prevalent in diesel engines than they are in their petrol counterparts.

Mercedes-Benz has developed two versions for this. Both the E 320 BlueTEC Saloon available in the US and the E 300 BlueTEC variant for the European market are equipped with a combination of oxidising catalytic converter and particulate filter with an extremely long-lasting NOx storage catalytic converter and an additional SCR catalytic converter (SCR= Selective Catalytic Reduction). The second BlueTEC version is being used for the new GL 320 BlueTEC, ML 320 BlueTEC and R 320 BlueTEC models, in which AdBlue, a harmless aqueous urea solution, is injected into the exhaust-gas stream. This process releases ammonia, which converts up to 80 percent of the nitrogen oxides into harmless nitrogen and water by a process of reduction in the downstream SCR catalytic converter.