BERLIN: German luxury car maker Daimler, which is being investigated for alleged emissions cheating, announced Tuesday a voluntary recall of more than three million Mercedes-Benz diesel vehicles in Europe.
It said it had already launched a service action for other models and that, “in order to effectively improve the emissions of additional model series, Daimler has now decided to extend the service action to include over three million Mercedes-Benz vehicles.”
The Stuttgart-based company said the action would cost the company 220 million euros ($255 million) and be free of charge for customers.
“In this way, Daimler is making a significant contribution to the reduction of nitrogen-oxide emissions from diesel vehicles in European inner cities,” it said in a statement.
The recall will start in coming weeks.
Last week, German media reported that Daimler had manipulated the engines of around one million diesel vehicles to make them appear less polluting, raising echoes of competitor Volkswagen’s “dieselgate” scandal.
Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily and two public broadcasters, citing a court-issued search warrant, said the company “sold vehicles with higher levels of damaging emissions than allowed for almost a whole decade between 2008 and 2016, in Europe and the United States.”
Investigators suspect Daimler used a similar so-called “defeat device” to Volkswagen, which in 2015 admitted to manipulating emissions readings on 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide.
Software in the motor runs the emissions treatment system at a higher setting when it detects the vehicle is undergoing regulatory testing.
At the time, a Daimler spokeswoman contacted by AFP declined to comment on an ongoing investigation, but said the carmaker was cooperating with the authorities.
The European Commissioner for industry, Elzbieta Bienkowska, described the latest development as “worrying.”
“This can’t continue,” she said in a written response to AFP.
“It’s bad for consumers and bad for the car industry’s good name and future.
“There is no excuse claiming the EU law is too vague. The law is clear. Defeat devices are forbidden.”
In its latest statement, Daimler said Mercedes-Benz had developed a completely new diesel engine family that could meet stricter EU emission regulations to come.
“The public debate about diesel engines is creating uncertainty — especially for our customers,” said Dieter Zetsche, chief executive of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars.
“We have therefore decided on additional measures to reassure drivers of diesel cars and to strengthen confidence in diesel technology,” he said.
“We are convinced that diesel engines will continue to be a fixed element of the drive-system mix, not least due to their low CO2 emissions.”
Daimler recalls 3 million diesel cars over emissions
Daimler recalls 3 million diesel cars over emissions
Price cuts drive sales of Saudi-owned electric car
- Lucid delivers more vehicles than expected as it prepares to launch luxury new Gravity SUV
RIYADH: The majority Saudi-owned electric car maker Lucid delivered more vehicles than expected in the past three months as price cuts helped boost demand.
The company delivered 2,394 cars from April to June 30, above analysts’ predictions of 1,940.
Lucid produced 3,838 vehicles in the first six months of 2024 and needs to make more than 5,162 cars by end of the year to meet its annual output forecast of 9,000. It made 8,428 cars in 2023.
“I think at this point everything is shaping for them to achieve that,” said Andres Sheppard, senior equity analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald. Lucid will produce and deliver more cars in the second half of the year because of the usual seasonal effects on the industry, he said.
Demand for electric vehicles has grown more slowly than expected pace in the past year, under pressure from high borrowing costs, economic uncertainties and consumer preference for hybrid alternatives.
Lucid and the market leader Tesla have responded by slashing prices and offering incentives such as cheaper financing options. Lucid, which is 60-per-cent owned by the Public Investment Fund, the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, cut the price of its flagship Air model by 10 percent in February.
Its new Gravity SUV model, a rival for Tesla's Model X, goes into production this year and will cost about $80,000.
