BS-VI Mercedes-Benz S-Class unveiled by Mr. Nitin Gadkari
Words: Chinmay Chaudhary
Mercedes-Benz has surprised the nation by unveiling first ever BS-VI vehicle in India. The German luxury carmaker has managed to do it a whopping two years ahead of the Government mandate of making all vehicles BS-VI compliant by 2020. Even though the new S-Class is BS-VI compliant, it is equally compatible to BS-IV fuel up to 50ppm available today.
As per the statistics, the particulate matter (PM) limit and NOx emission of BS-VI engines is 82 per cent and 68 per cent lower respectively than the BS-IV counterpart. The S350 has undergone tail pipe emission test in laboratory, engine power test, on board diagnostics test and real driving emission test conducted by ARAI Pune to get certified as the first ever BS-VI compliant vehicle. To become BS-VI compliant, the new S350d makes use of various emission technologies like exhaust gas re-circulation (EGR), diesel particulate filter (DPF), silicon controlled rectifier (SCR), etc. Mercedes-Benz also claims that even though the power output has gone up, the new car consumes up to six per cent less fuel.
Commenting on the introduction of the first BS-VI car in the country, Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport Highways & Shipping said, “To mitigate the rising pollution in Delhi and adjoining areas, the Government is trying to advance BS-VI grade fuel availability in Delhi NCT by April 2018 and shift to BS VI norms by April 2020. This will drastically reduce pollution and help us advance to better technologies used globally. I want to congratulate Mercedes-Benz for their efforts towards not only making safe vehicles but also for a greener vehicle by introducing BS VI vehicle in India much ahead of the regulations.”
Rashmi Urdhwareshe, director of ARAI said, “It is our endeavor to support the Government and the auto industry in terms of developing and testing the vehicles and promote cleaner technology. In line with this, we are happy to present the Certificate of Compliance to CMVR, to Mercedes-Benz India for both their BS-VI compliant petrol and diesel vehicles. We conducted stringent and extensive tests on both the vehicles, which includes particulate numbers, engine power test, on board diagnosis test and real world driving emission (RDE) data collection. The results of the tests are in compliance to prescribed CMVR rules followed by ARAI. BS VI test protocol and facilities are significantly different than BS IV and ARAI is fully equipped to handle upcoming development and certification work for all vehicle models and engines.”
Speaking on the occasion, Roland Folger, managing director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India said, “We are glad to fulfill our commitment to customers and to the Government’s vision of ‘Make in India, for India’ BS VI compliant vehicles. Mercedes-Benz vehicles are world class products and they comply with the most stringent emission standards and the ARAI certified new BS VI vehicles reiterate this high benchmark. The introduction of India’s first BS VI vehicles is a significant milestone and we strongly believe that this will pave the way for other manufacturers to introduce their BS VI vehicles in India.”
