No possibility of using bio-diesel in vehicles: Mercedes

Mercedes Benz on Tuesday ruled out using bio-diesel to power its cars and other vehicles in India as the German luxury car maker clarified that it never committed any such possibility to Union transport Minister Nitin Gadkari.  "We have meetings on several occasions. We talked about a hundred per cent availability of Bharat Stage-VI in all vehicles with him and his people. He must have misunderstood that as introducing bio-diesel, which at the moment, we have no possibility and no attention to do," company MD and CEO Roland Folger said. 

He was speaking to reporters here after launch of 'My Mercedes, My Service' Programme in India. Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had recently said the company had sent him a letter in which it had committed using 100 per cent bio-diesel in its cars and trucks.

"Mercedes has given me a letter that they can use 100 per cent bio-diesel in their cars and trucks...," the minister said. Gadkari had further said Mercedes India chief met him and assured him that the standards "which we have prescribed for bio-diesel, can be used by Mercedes in its cars and other vehicles". 

Automobile giants like Mercedes, Toyota, Mahindra and General Motors have failed to get any relief from the Supreme Court, which has barred registration of diesel-run SUVs and high-end cars with engine capacity of 2000 CC and above in the National Capital Region. Folger also said the company aimed to completely redefine the after-sales experience by digitising service process and create an unparalleled benchmark in the luxury car service domain.

The initiative aims at enhancing the customer’s ownership experience manifold, thus making after-sales experience the new differentiator in the luxury car segment, he said. Folger also said that the Mercedes-Benz service experience is highly customer oriented and aims to be efficient, transparent, nominally priced and most importantly fast, to “retain the loyalty of our new age patrons”.