On the occasion of today’s summit meeting of government and automotive industry officials in Berlin, Daimler AG has expanded its previously introduced initiative for improved air quality with additional measures. “We focus on improving the diesel instead of banning it. In the medium term optimizing the diesel engine is one of the most effective levers for achieving climate goals through less CO2 in road traffic,” said Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars.
“That’s why we have once again expanded our package of measures. We want to improve air quality quickly and effectively – without adversely affecting our customers through driving bans.” The package of measures includes four key points:
1. Voluntary service measures for more than 3-million vehicles in Europe
In order to effectively improve the emission performance of EU5 and EU6 vehicles in Europe, two weeks ago the company had already decided to expand its ongoing service measures. As a result, the NOx emissions of more than three-million Mercedes-Benz vehicles will drop by an average of 25 to 30 percent under normal driving conditions. About one-million such vehicles are on German roads. For these measures engineers take advantage of, among other things, recent findings from the development of the new Mercedes-Benz diesel engine family as well as experience from the field. The company is investing an amount of approximately 220-million euros. No costs are incurred by customers through these service measures.
Since March Mercedes-Benz has been offering customers an improvement in NOx emission behavior for an engine variant in compact-class vehicles. Around 45 percent of these vehicles are now up to this standard. The company is also carrying out a corresponding voluntary service for V-Class customers – so far for about 75 percent of these vehicles in Germany.
2. Environmental bonus for EU4 vehicles
In order to effectively rejuvenate the vehicle fleet on the road, the company is offering owners of Euronorm 4 vehicles, depending on the model, a four-digit environmental bonus if they choose to buy a new Mercedes-Benz later this year.
3. Contribution to Mobility Fund
In line with its market share, Daimler AG will participate in the mobility fund launched by government and industry. This is primarily intended to finance measures that contribute to improved traffic flow in inner cities.
4. Quicker market introduction of RDE-conforming vehicles
Daimler is pressing ahead with the introduction of vehicles that meet the more stringent emission limits under RDE regulations. The fact that the diesel engine can also meet future strict EU emission standards has already been proven by Mercedes-Benz with a completely new engine family.
With an investment sum of around 3-billion euros the company has developed a new generation of engines whose exemplary emissions have been confirmed by the measurements of independent institutes. Following the market launch of the new four-cylinder OM 654 in the new E-Class in 2016, the market introduction of this modular engine family is being quickly implemented across the whole product portfolio.
“I trust that today’s meeting will serve as a signal to make the debate about the diesel engine, which has gotten off track in some areas, objective again,” said Dieter Zetsche. “I understand that many think the automotive industry is the problem. We will now show that we are part of the solution.”
