Daimler To Slash US Emission Fines Through New Models -Executive
"We'll reduce these fines dramatically...Thanks to new models, we'll be able to reduce the 2009 fines to almost zero," Weber told Dow Jones at the North American International Auto Show. Weber is executive board member responsible for research and development.
Daimler paid one of the biggest fines ever in 2008, around $29 million, for violating fuel-efficiency requirements under the Corporate Average Fuel Economy rules, known as CAFE.
Weber said so far large sports-utility-vehicles with big and powerful engines accounted for a large chunk of Mercedes-Benz' U.S. sales. However, the launch of the company's tiny Smart minicars in the world's largest automarket in 2008 and modern engine technology at its core Mercedes-Benz brand led to a significantly improved fuel-efficiency of the company's fleet.
In Detroit, Mercedes-Benz presented a new generation of its E-Class model. The company has delivered around 1.5 million vehicles of the current E-Class generation to customers since the launch six years ago.
Weber confirmed that new engines will improve the new generation E-Class' fuel-efficiency by up to 23%, while at the same time prices will remain basically unchanged. Mercedes-Benz is gearing up to launch a hybrid version of the new E-Class generation in 2010 or 2011, Weber said.
The E-Class is one of the luxury brand's key models in terms of sales volume and revenues per vehicle. It competes with cars such as BMW AG's (BMW.XE) 5-series and Audi AG's (NSU.XE) A6 model. The most important markets for the E-Class are the U.S. and Germany, each of which account for around 25% of sales.
Weber said the new E-Class, widely seen as Mercedes-Benz most important model to be launched this year, is designed to be state of the art in terms of safety, comfort and fuel-efficiency.
Late Saturday, Daimler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said the company will keep up its spending on research and development despite the industry currently being battered by eroding demand for new cars amid the financial crisis.
"We won't put our long-term success on the line with short-term budget cuts in our product plan or research and development," Zetsche told reporters during an evening event.
"Daimler's research budget remains one of the largest in the auto industry - and we intend to keep it that way," he said.
According to previous company statements, Daimler plans to spend around EUR14 billion on research and development between 2008 and 2010.
-By Christoph Rauwald, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29 725 512; christoph.rauwald@dowjones.com
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Publié le 11 janvier 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones
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