Emmy Rossum filling her ML320 BlueTec

In recent years, turning up at high profile events in a Toyota Prius has become almost de rigueur for Hollywood celebrities who want to show off their green cred. However, for someone who's made obscene amounts of money for playing pretend, tooling around in something as mundane as a Prius doesn't do much to show the world that you've made it. For that you need something with a little more substance and perhaps a three pointed star.

Since most of these Hollywood "beautiful people live in California, any viable alternatives have be available for sale there. Mercedes-Benz is now offering an option to these folks which is by no means as efficient as the iconic hybrid, but certainly delivers more of the ostentatiousness that might be expected in this market segment. Recently the likes of Naomi Watts, Kyle MacLachlan and Gary Oldman have been turning up driving Mercedes-Benz BlueTec diesels like the ML320 and E320. While these vehicles are not in the same green class as the Toyota, the do offer the other attributes of a Benz with much better fuel efficiency than gasoline-powered alternatives.

Related GalleryCelebrities with Mercedes BlueTec diesels

[Source: Mercedes-Benz]


Hollywood drives BlueTEC: Stars from Motion Pictures, Television and Music Go Green with Mercedes-Benz BlueTEC

When Academy Award Nominee Naomi Watts celebrated her 40th birthday in Los Angeles this fall, her partner Liev Schreiber ("X-Men," "The Manchurian Candidate") surprised her with a spectacular present; a Mercedes-Benz ML320 BlueTEC. Liev and Naomi are among the actors and musicians to discover the exceptional performance, efficiency, and high cruising range of Mercedes-Benz BlueTEC models, the world's cleanest and most advanced diesels.

In addition to Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts, fellow BlueTEC drivers from motion pictures and television include "Desperate Housewives" star Kyle MacLachlan, "Sex and the City" siren Kim Cattrall, Academy Award Nominee and Golden Globe Winner Gary Oldman, and "Phantom of the Opera" star and singer Emmy Rossum. "My ML320 BlueTEC has all the power and luxury you'd expect of a Mercedes-Benz, plus the efficiency and low environmental impact of an economy or even hybrid vehicle," says Emmy Rossum. "BlueTEC really is the best of both worlds." Also from the world of music, pop superstar Gwen Stefani and her husband, musician Gavin Rossdale, have a BlueTEC parked in their driveway, as does singer Josh Kelley (husband of "Grey's Anatomy" star Katherine Heigl).

Seven-time Grammy winning artist Alanis Morissette chose the fuel-efficient Mercedes-Benz BlueTEC for the video of "Underneath", the first single and video from her latest album, "Flavors of Entanglement." In the video, Alanis is sitting at a bus stop wearing a "Save the Earth" t-shirt and distributing fliers to encourage concern for the environment. When a Mercedes-Benz E320 BlueTEC passes by, Alanis salutes the Mercedes driver in appreciation for their environmentally aware choice. "Making green choices on a local level is important in creating global change," says Alanis. "I'm glad that Mercedes-Benz has introduced a great option with BlueTEC."

BlueTEC have also starred in some of the hottest television shows and series this season, including "90210" (CW), "The Amazing Race" (CBS), "Privileged" (CW), "Starter Wife" (USA Network), and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (NBC).
About Mercedes-Benz BlueTEC
The BlueTEC wave began in October 2006 when Mercedes-Benz introduced the E320 BlueTEC sedan; it immediately captured accolades from consumers and critics alike and was voted "2007 World Green Car of the Year." Now Mercedes-Benz has expanded the BlueTEC product range with the introduction of three new SUV's - the R, ML and GL 320 BlueTEC - the first diesel SUV's to meet the stringent emissions standards of all 50 States. The term "BlueTEC" is derived from the revolutionary AdBlue process that injects a reducing agent in the vehicle's exhaust line, thereby clearly reducing emissions.