Mercedes-Benz says it has secured a hearing for its refrigerant dispute with Paris at France’s highest judicial court for 23 August, as the European Commission notes doubts have been raised as to the “lack of transparency by authorities.”
The German automaker and France remain in a tense stand-off that has seen the manufacturer’s A, B, CLA and SL models banned, due to what Paris views as their highly polluting r134a refrigerant used in air-conditioning units.
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Mercedes has applied to the council of state for a preliminary injunction that could see the French certification refusal of its cars lifted – a ban which has seen a huge backlog of 5,000 models – and rising – stacked up waiting to be delivered.
“They [council of state] replied to our submission and said yes, we will take care of that topic,” a Mercedes-Benz spokesman told just-auto from Brussels at a briefing for European media concerning the French blockade. “They arranged a hearing for 23 August.”
It has also emerged the European Commission has engaged its scientific body, the joint research centre to work with the German road safety authority, Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA), to evaluate the Brussels-mandated r1234yf refrigerant, whose proponents claim is less polluting, but which Mercedes insists can be highly flammable in certain conditions.
However, confusion surrounds a statement from the EC that: “Given the fact some stakeholders are concerned about changes in the testing plans and procedures during the risk assessment process as well as of lack of transparency by authorities, the Commission has offered its help to review the testing procedures.”
In a call to Brussels this morning (8 August), the commission declined to outline what it meant by “changes in testing” or “lack of transparency by authorities,” confining itself to note: “We cannot go into further details at the moment.”
The enormous backlog of Mercedes vehicles is now causing French dealers serious concern, with the Groupement des Distributeurs et Reparateurs employing 11,000 staff, warning it may have to make 1,500 of them partially redundant.
“Since the distortion of competition in the French market is rising more and more, Daimler has submitted a request for preliminary injunction at the French Conseil d’Etat,” said a statement from the automaker.
“This is to achieve an earliest registration for the respective vehicles.”
The KBA was not immediately available for comment.
