In their never ending quest to improve fuel consumption, Mercedes-Benz is said to be working on having the stop-start technology on all engines by 2011. Mercedes will introduce the stop-start technology on the E200 CGI, which is a 4 cylinder with 181 hp, from the middle of next year. Autocar reports that by 2011, Mercedes-Benz aims to overcome the issue with fitting the technology on automatics, especially on V6 and V8 models, which have automatic gearboxes fitted as standard.

Christoph Spengel, head of engine development for MB states, “Fitting the system to any engine and gearbox is not a problem, we can get reliability quite easily. Achieving the smoothness of the start is the real problem. Engaging the starter takes a little time, and then firing the engine takes a little time, and it is important that our system does not disturb the driver.”

I wonder if this problem could be resolved by having a small electric motor fitted on these cars, which it could be used to start the car rolling until the actual engine kicks in. I am sure the Mercedes-Benz engineers have figured this thing out, if not, then they have a few more years to get it done.