[News] Mercedes contro le cospirazioni anti-diesel in USA

[Da: LeftLaneNews.com]
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Mercedes-Benz has accused profiteering oil companies of ripping off diesel
buyers and fears such action may kill the U.S. diesel passenger car market
in its infancy. While oil prices have hit new highs, the pump price of
diesel has surged to be more than a dollar a gallon higher than gasoline in
some U.S. states, even though it is cheaper and less energy intensive to
produce.
And Mercedes-Benz, which introduced its E320 BlueTEC diesel passenger car
into the U.S. in 2006, is fighting back, with Daimler board member, Dr
Thomas Weber, insisting there was no demand-driven reason for diesel prices
to be so high.
"We knew this surge was coming in the U.S.," Dr Weber, who heads up the
Mercedes-Benz Research and Development division, told Leftlane.
"I believe there is definitely optimization of earnings by oil companies to
take advantage of the higher usage of diesel today. There is not another
plausible or economic explanation."
While diesel sales are up in Europe, the economic downturn has lowered
volumes in the U.S., where it is primarily a heavy transport fuel.
Even so, the U.S. Government's Energy Information Administration reveals
that diesel users have suffered more than double the gas price rises in the
last year. Once cheaper, diesel is now significantly more expensive than gas
everywhere in the United States.
The EIA's data shows that while gas costs 443 cents a gallon in California,
diesel there costs 499.2 cents and, in a nationwide trend, it is 72 cents
more expensive on the East Coast and 63 cents more expensive in the Mid
West.
While gasoline has risen 113 cents a gallon in California in the last 12
months, diesel has surged by 199.5 cents in the same period and its pump
price surge has outstripped gasoline by 95.7 cents on the East Coast and
95.3 cents in the Mid West.
"The most important driver is a huge trend in diesel use in Europe, but that
doesn't explain it," Dr Weber insisted.
"There are limitations on capacity on the refining sites, but that's not it,
either, really.
"Diesel production costs are less than the gasoline production costs so the
only idea you can find is that these companies are in the business of making
a profit, so that is what they do now."
The EIA's pump price breakdowns seem to confirm Mercedes-Benz's allegations.
While the cost of the basic crude oil accounts for 73 percent of the pump
price of gasoline, it only accounts for 61 percent of the diesel price.
Instead, the EIA figures show oil companies are slugging diesel buyers by
more than double diesel's refining costs compared to gasoline. Only 10
percent of the gasoline price is in refining, while that figure leaps to 21
percent for diesel.
Nevertheless, Dr Weber predicted the massive gap between gasoline and diesel
prices in the U.S., Australia and Europe would soon come to an end and, even
in the meantime, they would not affect Daimler's upcoming plans to hit the
U.S. market in force with its diesel engines.
"For the customer, if they experience the advantages of diesel, they will
stay with diesel anyway," he insisted.
"The technology is 20 to 30 percent more efficient than gasoline and has
more torque at lower rpm and that's what most buyers actually use."
Benz will launch BlueTEC diesel versions of its R-, GL and ML-class SUVs in
October after receiving 50-state registration approval for the technology in
March this year.

Words by Michael Taylor.
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