Mercedes To Upgrade Nearly 3 Million Diesel Models, Speed Up Launch Of New Engine

Daimler Chairman Dr. Dieter Zetsche has revealed the company is embarking on an ambitious initiative that aims to "reassure drivers of diesel cars and to strengthen confidence in diesel technology."

As part of the company's plan, the automaker will greatly expand its voluntary service action for owners of diesel-powered vehicles. The original service action aimed to reduce nitrogen-oxide emissions in the company's compact cars and V-Class van but it will now be offered on over three million vehicles.

Mercedes says the new service action will target "nearly all EU5 and EU6 vehicles in Europe" and will be carried out in close cooperation with German regulatory authorities. The program will start in the next few weeks and the service action will make a "significant contribution to the reduction of nitrogen-oxide emissions from diesel vehicles in European inner cities."

Besides improving older diesel engines, the company will "rapidly" deploy its new four-cylinder OM 654 engine which debuted in the E-Class. Mercedes says the engine has "exemplary emissions" which have been confirmed by independent testing.

Daimler hopes these efforts will help to build confidence in diesel engines as the company expects them to "play an important role for a long time yet due to their significantly higher efficiency than gasoline engines."