KUALA LUMPUR: Mercedes-Benz Malaysia issued a statement yesterday to clarify that the diesel-powered vehicles distributed by the group can run on B10 biodiesel, ahead of the expected implementation of the B10 biodiesel programme by the government in October.

The clarification came after Mercedes-Benz joined other carmakers last week to urge that the introduction of the B10 biodiesel programme be considered further, saying that its diesel-powered passenger cars, vans and trucks could only use up to the B7 biodiesel blend.

In its statement yesterday, Mercedes-Benz said there no risk with the B10 blend is expected for its current diesel vehicle fleet in Malaysia, according to the experiences of Daimler AG’s research and development division.

“After having initially stated that the B10 biodiesel blend requires further consideration, we are now pleased to inform our customers about the B10 biodiesel blend’s suitability for all Mercedes-Benz diesel vehicles currently sold by Mercedes-Benz Malaysia,” said Mercedes-Benz Malaysia president and chief executive officer Roland Folger. 

“We have evaluated carefully the influence of B10 biodiesel blends on our current diesel vehicles for the Malaysian market and we are now able to confirm its compatibility. We have service intervals of 12,000km to ensure that our customers are not affected by the diesel quality. 

“Our diesel-powered vehicles currently sold in Malaysia were seen to have run both smoothly and safely with the use of the B10 biodiesel blend,” Folger added.

However, its diesel-powered commercial vehicles such as vans and trucks can only use up to 7% biodiesel blend (B7), the carmaker’s corporate communications unit explained to The Edge Financial Daily over the phone. The spokesman said the term diesel-powered vehicles specifically refers to just the company's diesel-powered passenger cars. 

Meanwhile, the automaker encouraged all relevant stakeholders to further consider other factors that may result from the introduction of B10 biodiesel, some of which may include environmental, technological and cost impacts. 

"Moving forward with the introduction of new models, the introduction of Euro 5 and Euro 6 exhaust regulation and/or changes in diesel fuel quality, we will need to re-evaluate our findings," Folger said in the same statement. 

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on July 02, 2015.