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New Mercedes B-Class Electric Drive goes in to production

The first Mercedes B-Class ED (pictured) rolls off the production line in Rastatt With the BMW i3 grabbing headlines – and flying out of showrooms – as BMW’s first electric car, Mercedes need to play catch-up with a convincing EV of their own, and that’s the new B-Class Electric Drive – an EV version of the regular B-Class – which has now gone in to production in Germany. Built alongside regular ICE versions of the B-Class at Mercedes’ Rastatt Plant, the B-Class ED (Electric Drive) looks practically the same as its more conventionally powered siblings – although the front bumper does look a bit different – and has an electric motor good for 177 bhp and 250 lb/ft of torque, can manage a scoot to 62 mph in 7.9 seconds and has a range of up to 124 miles. The range – at least the quoted range – is a chunk better than the BMW i3′s and on a par with the latest Nissan LEAF, thanks to EV technology provided by Tesla, and the wrapping of an EV drivetrain in a conventional series production car could appeal to more buyers than the ‘statement’ design of the BMW i3.

News watch June 2011: today's auto industry news

Welcome to CAR Magazine's news aggregator as we round up the daily stories in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hourThursday 30 June 2011• Toyota is planning a massive media campaign in the US to promote its new Camry saloon, due in autumn 2011. At a dealer meeting in Las Vegas, Toyota executives announced the media campaign, set to commence in October, to position Toyota and the new Camry as 'smart, safe and worry-free'.

The 73 year old Supercar killer

Just one of the Ferrari's wrecked by a Florida businessman. Here at Cars UK we tend not to report on exotic cars involved in crashes. True to say it’s a bit of an interweb phenomenon and generates a lot of traffic.