A device to cheat on emissions tests “has never been and will never be used at Daimler”, the group said.
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The technology locked up the emissions control systems in an environmental temperature below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
“We can not go into details”, said Daimler’s chief financial officer Bodo Uebber on the DoJ investigation at a press meeting about the results. Following the Volkswagen emission outrage, many automobile companies across the globe were forced to raids and investigations.
On advice of the company’s attorneys, management and directors, the company said “a disclosure of interim results of the investigation at this point in time would present unacceptable risks for Volkswagen and, therefore, can not take place now”.
Daimler AG’s diesel-engine emissions came under scrutiny after the carmaker was asked by the USA department of justice to investigate the certification process of its cars.
Volkswagen’s disclosure Friday of its finances, in a preliminary report on earnings, came one day after the automaker agreed to the outlines of the plan to settle many claims in the US which would include giving owners of close to 500,000 vehicles the option to sell the auto back to the business or having the vehicle repaired.
A Daimler spokesman said that the DoJ contacted the firm last week after a class-action lawsuit was filed, claiming its cars are programmed in a way that lets them emit illegal levels of emissions, similar to diesels made by fellow German carmaker Volkswagen. The brands whose vehicles are subject to recall include Mercedes-Benz, General Motors’ Opel unit, Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche.
Volkswagen on Friday posted a net loss of €1.58 billion for 2015, compared with a net profit of €10.85 billion a year earlier.
In the US, Germany’s Daimler – maker of Mercedes – and Mitsubishi are facing investigations.
Regulators in the USA and Europe are digging deeper into potential auto emissions irregularities.
Berman’s law firm hired a company to test Daimler’s Mercedes-brand diesels on real roads, finding that they spewed out too much nitrogen oxide nearly all the time. Meanwhile, 600,000 diesel vehicles are still driving on United States roads, in some cases emitting 10 to 40 times the amount of nitrogen oxide (NOx) as is legally allowed by the Environmental Protection Agency.
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In the three months to March, bottom-line net profit fell by 31 percent to €1.35 billion in the period from January, “impacted primarily by a life cycle-related decrease in unit sales of the S- and E-Class at the Mercedes-Benz Cars division”.
