[RavenAvi]

Global luxury carmaker, Mercedes Benz, is all set to unveil the country's first BS-VI vehicles on 19th January at Mumbai.

Adopting the tagline, "Made in India, for India", the German giant becomes the first Indian automobile manufacturer to offer BS-VI vehicles two years before they become enforced in our country.

This comes a couple of years before the Government enforces the BS-VI emission regulations from 1 April 2020. Mercedes Benz cars are also compatible with BS- IV fuels available today, which the company claims is a technological breakthrough for India.

With this, Mercedes-Benz has taken a step towards fulfilling Governments vision of a cleaner and greener environment for tomorrow, and also underlined the call of 'Make in India'.

Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport Highways & Shipping and Water Resource, River Development, & Ganga Rejuvenation and Rashmi Urdhwareshe, Director, ARAI, will unveil the first ‘BS VI Mercedes-Benz in India, for India’ on 19 January at Mumbai.

ET Auto

[lamborghini]

I would assume this is the Facelifted S Class?

Wouldn't it have made more sense to unveil the car at the Auto Expo next month?

[libranof1987]

This is very strong PR from Mercedes-Benz. But I imagine, it is just that. PR. Unlike the US where emissions are a prominent part of a car's specs highlighted on every display, I wonder how many people would take this BS-VI readiness into account when making a purchase decision. Especially given we are two years away from the mandate.

Originally Posted by lamborghini

I would assume this is the Facelifted S Class?

My assumption too.

Wouldn't it have made more sense to unveil the car at the Auto Expo next month?

They'd be lost in the crowd at the Auto Expo. A standalone event, that too with Nitin Gadkari as chief guest gives them tremendous exposure and bragging rights.

[reignofchaos]

Meh! Volvo has been selling Euro6 vehicles here since eternity. Ever since 2015.5 model refresh, every car imported to India has been EU6.

A better way to put it is Mercedes is the first domestically assembled car to be BS6/EU6 compliant.

[ajmat]

While we badly need Euro 6, is it worth it when we have poor diesel quality to support these?

The other problem will be coping with the DPF. You need to be doing long runs to enable the DPF to regenerate properly. A lot of people buy diesels since the fuel is cheap and use for short/stop start journeys, this will cause the DPF to ingest excess fuel, which should be used for used for regeneration, which will end up in the sump.

And at 80000km, expect a big bill for a new DPF.

A lot of customer education will be required!

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by ajmat

While we badly need Euro 6, is it worth it when we have poor diesel quality to support these?

The other problem will be coping with the DPF. You need to be doing long runs to enable the DPF to regenerate properly. A lot of people buy diesels since the fuel is cheap and use for short/stop start journeys, this will cause the DPF to ingest excess fuel, which should be used for used for regeneration, which will end up in the sump.

And at 80000km, expect a big bill for a new DPF.

A lot of customer education will be required!

The manufacturers are also to blame here for their pricing strategy. For example, MBIL should have priced the S400 and S350d at par, it would automatically shift buyers to the petrol. If a competent( and decently fuel efficient petrol variant is available at the same price as a diesel, it will sell better.

[RavenAvi]

Twitterati has reached the venue for the unveiling of the all-new S Class - the car with the first India-built BS-VI engine under it's hood!

(Source)

[RavenAvi]

Some more details, courtesy carandbike & Zigwheels' Twitters:

[H_Dogg72]

What is surprising to me is how is this also compatible with BS4 fuels.
Remember how Mercedes mocked the government for having to downgrade the Euro6 engine to run in India?
If this was possible, why didn't they or other European manufacturers give us cars that ran on both fuels earlier?
Can't expect anything from other brands who spew out black smoke right out of the factory, I have seen new crystas throw black smoke. My mamu's doesn't though, so I don't know what that happens.

[sandeepmohan]

Those are some really tall claims. Am curious to know how well they stack up 3-5 years down the line as this is a bigger problem with a diesel and less so with a petrol. Your standard emission test ain't going to be enough.

As much as diesel has made tremendous strides in being as fun to drive as a petrol, almost every manufacturer I know has failed to meet regulation when it comes to emission. Either they cheat or make tall claims. The testing methodology itself is flawed even in the developed world.

Well done to Mercedes Benz India.

[androdev]

Sorry for going off topic, but MBIL has become the king of PR. If you notice the driver side door, it has a blank insert in the place of "memory, heated, cooled" button panel which is a downgrade from the current s350 (which itself is a downgrade from the launch edition). MBIL really needs some competition here, they are having it too easy.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by androdev

Sorry for going off topic, but MBIL has become the king of PR. If you notice the driver side door, it has a blank insert in the place of "memory, heated, cooled" button panel which is a downgrade from the current s350 (which itself is a downgrade from the launch edition). MBIL really needs some competition here, they are having it too easy.

They did this when they launched the W222 a few years ago. They they added these and a few more features a year later.

Frankly if I was in the market, this in itself would be a deal breaker. But I guess there are enough people who never drive their S, and they don't care whether the front seats have these features.