Stuttgart/Germany, August 28, 2013

Refrigerant dispute

A good day for safety

Our company has won a provisional victory in the dispute surrounding the suspension of licensing for certain Mercedes model series in France. On Tuesday, the supreme administrative court in Paris lifted the suspension, which had been in effect for several weeks.

The French court ruled on Tuesday that our vehicles, which had not yet been given a green light by the authorities on account of a controversial refrigerant, may be licensed again until a definitive ruling has been given.

We are very happy that the Conseil d'Etat has ruled in favour of our legal standpoint and lifted the suspension of licensing in France with immediate effect. We expect the vehicles in question to be licensed within the next 48 hours.

The balance between all European car manufacturers has been restored. EU law clearly allows vehicles to be equipped with the safe R134a refrigerant until the end of 2016, subject to certain conditions, which is why much more than 95 percent of vehicles containing the substance (and not just our brands) have been licensed. All Mercedes-Benz products also have the corresponding type approval, valid throughout Europe.

Our company complained when the French authorities refused to licence new A-Class, B-Class, CLA and SL vehicles for several weeks. According to the French authorities, the refrigerant in the vehicles' air conditioning systems did not comply with the EU's environmental regulations.

However, we do not want to use the substance R1234yf proposed instead for safety reasons. It can ignite under certain conditions releasing highly toxic hydrogen fluoride in the process. This poses an additional threat the safety of the vehicle's occupants and other road users. This is why we are continuing to fill the air conditioning systems of our models with the tested and safe R134a refrigerant.

The necessary expansion of the type approval was granted by the German Federal Motor Transport Authority, although France did not acknowledge this license which is valid throughout Europe. Until today. The decision by the administrative court will now provide some relief for our customers until a final ruling is given.

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