Daimler Offers €3K to Upgrade Mercedes Diesel Vehicles

Multinational automotive corporation Daimler said earlier this week that Mercedes-Benz car owners could demand a € 3,000 grant to upgrade the exhaust filters of older diesel vehicles in Germany.

This comes as the latest effort among the car-maker to avoid the central city bans in Germany.

In an attempt to cut toxic nitrogen oxides, automakers were forced to modernize exhaust systems in older vehicles following a ban on diesel polluting vehicles. 

As the German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) seeks to encourage an after-market kit to upgrade the exhaust systems of Mercedes diesel vehicles, Daimler launched a website this week to accept financial support applications from car owners.

A Bavaria-based Dr Pley SCR Technology has provided the first retrofit kit for Mercedes, including E220 and E250 models at around € 3,000 to purchase and install.

[caption id="attachment_83438" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] 1996 Mercedes Benz E-Class, Diesel[/caption]

German car-makers initially offered software updates rather than pressuring customers to buy new cars with less polluting engines, however, customer groups pushed car-makers to support retrofits as a more cost-efficient bid.

"Retrofits are feasible and have proved its success to car-makers," head of development at Dr Pley Thomas Steinbrueckner.

Daimler AG is a German automotive corporation, headquartered in Stuttgart. in 1926, Daimler-Benz was formed with the merger of Benz & Cie and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft.