AFTER letting Toyota and Honda have a comfortable 10-year headstart, Daimler is putting pedal to metal to bring its range of hybrid cars to the market.

It will launch no fewer than seven hybrids by 2009 - including diesel-electric models (which the Japanese currently do not have).

'We've not exactly been sleeping,' says Mr Andreas Truckenbrodt, executive director of Daimler's Hybrid Development Center in Michigan in the United States. 'It's just that the demand for diesel cars has been so strong, we decided to focus our energy there first.'

The first hybrid from the group is the Smart fortwo mhd (micro hybrid drive), available across Europe by the end of this year.

Since the Smart is not exactly popular in Singapore, the first Mercedes hybrids we could see here are likely to be the S400 and ML450, which will be launched in 2009. The new E-class, also due in that year, will also have a hybrid drivetrain.

Left-hand- drive cars will be produced first, followed later by right-hand versions.

Singapore's current tax rebate for hybrid cars - equivalent to a 40 percentage point cut in the car's open-market value - is valid till end-2009.

Mr Truckenbrodt says the first hybrids are big luxury models because 'we are likely to be more successful if we introduce new technology top down'. He also says customers in this segment are more likely to be able to afford such cars.

The Mercedes S400 will be a 'mild' hybrid, equipped with a 15kW motor powered by lithium ion batteries. It will have 299bhp at its disposal, but consume only 7.9 litres of petrol per 100km.

The ML450 will be a 'full' hybrid, equipped with 60kW motors powered by nickel metal hydride batteries (the type used in current hybrids). It will have 321bhp, but the big SUV is expected to consume even less petrol: 7.7 litres per 100km.

Mr Truckenbrodt reveals that the ML450 will have a 300-volt electrical system which is capable of running the car's air-conditioning when the hybrid shuts off its petrol engine at the lights.

He also talked about the Mercedes-Benz F700, a research car that was showcased at Frankfurt in September. The car has a turbocharged 1.8-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that can rival the performance of a 3.5-litre V6.

Because of advanced direct injection and charging as well as high compression, the engine is also extremely low on consumption and emission. Daimler calls this engine Diesotto, as it combines the best qualities of diesel technology in a petrol engine.

It produces 258bhp and propels the car to 100kmh in 7.5 seconds.

Although the size of an S-class and packed with amenities, the F700 is said to consume only 5.3 litres of petrol per 100km and expel only 127g of carbon dioxide per kilometre (less than half what a conventional S-class produces today and below the 130g cut-off proposed for all cars in Europe by 2012).

Daimler has not revealed when the F700 will be produced, but punters expect it to be in showrooms as early as 2011. And the production car will have an electric hybrid system to help make it even cleaner.

Mr Truckenbrodt says Daimler is not stopping at hybrids. It is still pursuing its fuel-cell projects.

'We are sick and tired of the chicken-and-egg debate,' he says, referring to the lack of hydrogen refuelling facilities (fuel-cell cars use hydrogen to mix with oxygen in the air to create electric power). 'We've decided to just go ahead on our own.'

The Merc B-class F-Cell will be produced in limited numbers in 2010. But Mr Truckenbrodt concedes that fuel-cell cars - or for that matter, any 'green' car - won't be selling in volumes until they cost the same as conventional cars.

Currently, a fuel-cell car costs up to 10 times more than a petrol model, mainly because of its complex battery and electrical systems.

Hence, he says, mass production of fuel-cell cars won't be likely before 2020.