German carmaker Daimler AG (commonly known as Mercedes) will recall by the end of the year 668,954 vehicles sold in China because of a possible oil leak, the Associated Press has reported.
A notice issued on China’s State Administration for Market Regulation website says that a seal between a high-pressure fuel pump and a lower pressure fuel pipe could give up after a time and result in an oil leak if the car is started in cold weather. The official Chinese news agency reported the recall on Sunday.
The recall will begin on December 18 and affects vehicles manufactured between February 2013 and June 2017. The models that will be recalled are the C,E,V, GLK, CLS passenger cars, the GLC SUV and the VS20 VITO minivan.
The majority of the affected models were manufactured in China by Beijing Benz Automotive, over 12,000 by Fujian Benz Automotive, both subsidiaries of the German parent company, while 36,000 cars have been imported.
So far the German carmaker has not commented on the possible costs of the recall, but Mercedes is already in major trouble: in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic the slow recovery of car demand is forcing the company to make even more significant cutbacks than it had already announced last year. In November 2019, the company announced that it will reduce its workforce by 10,000 to achieve personnel cost savings of €1.4 billion ($1.6 billion).
Last week Daimler CEO Ola Kallenius said that faced with the “significantly harsher reality” of the industry after the coronavirus pandemic it will have to make more significant reductions both in its workforce and cut salaries more than it previously planned.
Title image: Workers inspect newly assembled cars at a Beijing Benz Automotive Co. Ltd factory, a German joint venture company for Mercedes-Benz, in Beijing on Wednesday, May 13, 2020. Chinese media reported Sunday, July 5, 2020 that Mercedes-Benz will recall more than 660,000 vehicles in China later this year for a possible oil leak with most of the vehicles being manufactured by Beijing Benz Automotive Co. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
