1983 Mercedes 380 Sel on 2040-cars

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Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Mercedes also under diesel emissions scrutiny

The controversy over Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal isn't limited to the US. In Europe, where diesel engines are far more popular, the issue is shining a harsh light on the NEDC emissions test. As already known, the evaluation does a poor job of reflecting real-world production of NOx, and it appears a significant number of automakers are affected. The Guardian in the UK has been reporting on real-world test results from a company called Emissions Analytics. After the latest round of checks, vehicles from Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Mazda and Mitsubishi were found to generate far more NOx than they should. The newspaper also published similar results for Renault, Nissan, Hyundai, Fiat, Volvo, Jeep, Citroen, VW, and Audi. On average, the figures are about four times over the limit of producing the pollutant. Unlike VW and its defeat device, these automakers aren't actually breaking the rules. The vehicles perform up to the NEDC lab test for emissions, but those results simply aren't translated to the street. "The VW issue in the US was purely the trigger which threw light on a slightly different problem in the EU - widespread legal over-emissions," Nick Molden from Emissions Analytics said to The Guardian. A big fight to decide the future of this issue appears to be on the horizon. Automakers claim that they can't meet the next round of tightening emissions regulations and are asking for compromises. Although, spokespeople for Mercedes and Honda told The Guardian that the brands would be in favor of the stricter rules. Meanwhile, some European governments began backtracking their support of diesels well before this scandal came to light. The added scrutiny certain hasn't helped the future of the oil-burner. Related Video:

Daimler names Bernd Pischetsrieder to supervisory board

Some executives in the automotive industry stay with one company for their entire careers, while others bounce from one to the other, often leaving their indelible mark on each automaker at which they serve. Bob Lutz is certainly an example of the latter. So is Lee Iacocca, having presided over Ford and later charing the Chrysler board. Carlos Tavares was chief operating officer of Renault before being nominated as chief executive at PSA Peugeot Citroën. But as far as the Germans go, nobody's jumped from the leadership of one automaker to the next quite like Bernd Pischetsrieder - especially now that he's been named to the supervisory board of Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler.
An engineer by training, Pischetsrieder started his career at BMW in 1973, eventually rising to the office of CEO after twenty years. There he remained until 1999, only to be dismissed after orchestrating BMW's takeover of the Rover Group (of which only the Mini brand remains in the company's portfolio, the other brands having been sold off after his dismissal).
The next year he was named chairman of Volkswagen's Seat brand, and rose to the chairmanship of the entire Volkswagen Group two years later. Despite a largely successful four-year tenure (that gave birth, incidentally, to the Bugatti Veyron), disagreements with supervisory board chairman Ferdinand Piëch saw him leave the helm at VW AG, focusing his attention on the Scania truck division. He's since been touted as a potential chief executive for Opel and for Continental, but neither potential was apparently realized.

X1, 3 Series power BMW back into global luxury autos sales lead

BMW managed to eke ahead of Audi for the global luxury sales crown in February. According to Bloomberg, BMW saw deliveries swell by 7 percent in February, besting the 3.2 percent jump enjoyed by Audi and giving BMW a 407-unit delivery lead over its rival last month. Mercedes-Benz, meanwhile, continued to falter, with the brand selling some 37,229 fewer machines than BMW, whose factories are running at full capacity to keep up with demand. Models like the X1 (shown above) enjoyed a sales increase of 40 percent in February while the company's bread-and-butter 3 Series jumped by 26 percent.
Mercedes-Benz hopes to stem its continued market share loss with the addition of the entry-level CLA sedan to its portfolio in April. The company is set to roll out an updated version of its cash-cow E-Class at the same time, and a new-generation S-Class will follow along shortly thereafter. Meanwhile, the company is increasing production to meet demand for its A and B-Class models.