1. Five Western Cars at Beijing 2006
2. Volkswagen Neeza concept
3. Cadillac SLS
4. Mercedes E-Class
5. Ford S-MAX

Mercedes-Benz began preparation for the 2006 Beijing motorshow a long time ago. Though its GL-Class off-roader made its Asian debut, the big news was the arrival of no less than 36 E-Class Mercedes-Benz, all equipped with the latest generation clean diesel engines. So what, you might say, but these cars had been driven all the way from Paris, which amounts to 13,600km each.

The line-up consisted of the trusty E 320 CDI, as well as three cars fitted with the new BLUETEC technology, which cuts emissions so much that Mercedes claims that the E-Class BLUETEC is the cleanest diesel car in the world, meeting even the strict US emissions legislation. This may have been one big marketing stunt, but getting the 36 cars to the show on time required 330 drivers from 35 countries, covering a total of more than 490,000km in 9 countries in just 26 days!

More relevant to the Chinese market will be the setting up of a production facility in the Beijing Development Area, capable of producing 25,000 new E-Class per year, no doubt with bigger plans in the future.

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