German environmental group takes aim at Mercedes

After Volkswagen, it seems to be the turn of Daimler-Benz. A German environmental lobbying group has claimed that a Mercedes car produced by the luxury automaker was found to exceed European limits for nitrogen oxide emissions, agencies reported.

The group, DUH, said on Wednesday that tests carried out by the University of Applied Sciences in Bern, Switzerland, had shown nitrogen oxide emissions from the car, a 2011 C-class 200 CDI model, that were more than twice the legal limits when tested with a warm engine under new European testing cycles.

Daimler described the results as "questionable", saying the model used technology that met European Union standards and threatening legal action should false claims damage its reputation.
"The conditions of the test are not clear,” a Daimler spokesperson said. “We don't know the specific car, the temperature at the time of the tests, the loading weight."

Fellow German carmaker VW is engulfed in a scandal after rigging results of diesel exhaust emissions tests in the United States.

DUH has made charges against a number of other car manufacturers. In October it said a model built by General Motors' Opel division had shown excessive emissions of nitrous oxide, an assertion that was denied by Opel.

French rival Renault has also contested findings cited by DUH that one of its minivans released toxic diesel emissions 25 times over legal limits.