A French court has lifted that country’s ban on Mercedes-Benz vehicles not running R1234yf A/C Freon. The courts said that the French ministry for the environment must reevaluate their decision to ban those models. Mercedes has said it is “very confident’ that the French government will abide by that court ruling”. R1234yf was banned for use in new model cars by the EU at the start of 2013.
According to the verdict, the ministry has 10 days to decide if it’s going to try continuing the ban on Mercedes A-class, B-class and SL cars built after June 12 (including the yet to launch CLA) which Daimler has equipped with R134a. The ruling does not force French authorities to allow registrations of those models during the 10 day period.
A Daimler spokesman said: “We welcome the positive decision of the French court, which clearly rejected the French registration authority (decision) to prevent the registration of our cars.”
If the verdict is overturned, it would affect about 29,000 cars annually, about 2% of Mercedes-Benz’s worldwide sales.
According to the verdict, the ministry has 10 days to decide if it’s going to try continuing the ban on Mercedes A-class, B-class and SL cars built after June 12 (including the yet to launch CLA) which Daimler has equipped with R134a. The ruling does not force French authorities to allow registrations of those models during the 10 day period.
A Daimler spokesman said: “We welcome the positive decision of the French court, which clearly rejected the French registration authority (decision) to prevent the registration of our cars.”
If the verdict is overturned, it would affect about 29,000 cars annually, about 2% of Mercedes-Benz’s worldwide sales.
