The formal re-entry of the Volkswagen brand in the Philippines was spiced up by a statement from Automobile Central Enterprise Inc. (Acei), the official Philippine distributor of Volkswagen in the Philippines.
During a Sept. 23 roundtable discussion with members of the local automotive media, Acei declared that, for the time being, it would only bring in diesel-powered variants, as the entry of its gasoline-powered vehicles would be delayed due to the presence of manganese in gasoline sampled in the country.
Industry players subsequently threw in their two cents’ worth on this revelation.
“How come Audi units with both normal and turbo FSI engines, as well as Porsches, Lamborghinis and Bentleys—all using local fuel—had no major technical issues related to fuel quality?” a puzzled car expert who refused to be named said.
Stranger still is the fact that the Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and Porsche brands—which are distributed locally by PGA Cars—are globally all under the Volkswagen Group.
In 2009, Inquirer Motoring received information that fuel samples were gathered by independent laboratories commissioned by the official distributor PGA Cars’ principals. One of the Audi fuel engineers visited the country that year to personally conduct a road test using an Audi 3 with Turbo Fuel Stratified Injection (TFSI) specified to use Euro 4 gasoline. The road test went remarkably well, and that vehicle has now run 135,000 kilometers with no major issues related to its fuel use.
In the September roundtable discussion, Acei executives disclosed that Volkswagen in Germany contracted an independent laboratory and tested several brands of gasoline from the “Big Three” (Petron, Shell, Chevron) and other independent oil players nationwide. Test results showed the presence of manganese as an additive. Followup tests showed that the Big Three were cleared of manganese, but were nevertheless required to submit a certification that they did not use the additive in their fuels.
The Department of Energy, in a text message to Inquirer Motoring, confirmed that traces of manganese were, indeed, found in unleaded gasoline as a substitute to lead.
Jay delos Angeles, CATS Motors Inc. vice president for aftersales, said: “Mercedes-Benz does not rely on compliance certificates, but would get a third party to do actual sampling to verify. Official sampling of Shell and Caltex did not yield traces of manganese. But they did find manganese in some samples taken from customers’ cars, their fuel could not be confirmed from any one source.”
“For quite some time we have also closely worked with Petron, providing them feedback on their fuels,” Delos Angeles added.
“For a number of years, we had to delay the introduction of many engine models. In fact, Mercedes-Benz had to develop more tolerant engine configurations for markets similar to ours. In addition, even with this tolerant variant, we had to advise our customers to get their fuel only from highly compliant stations with high turnover and located in areas free of flooding,” Delos Angeles stressed.
No alarming findings
In a text message, Lexus Manila said that during fuel tests (before Lexus models were brought in the Philippines), it never came upon any alarming findings on manganese. “It recommends the Big Three, but more for the upkeep of their facilities (flooding and water seepage) over any concerns on fuel quality. As of the moment, those recommendations have not changed,” Lexus Manila marketing services officer Carlo Chungunco said.
Oil companies called Inquirer Motoring the week after the Sept. 25 story came out, visibly irked over Acei’s pronouncements, but refused to give an official response. An independent fuel company promised to issue an in-depth study on the case.
The manganese controversy prompted the Automobile Association Philippines to hold a press conference at its Edsa office today starting lunchtime, inviting the Department of Energy, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Petron, Shell, Total and the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association (composed of leading independent oil players such as Unioil, Petroleum Philippines Inc., Seaoil Philippines, Flying V, Eastern, Filpride, Filoil, City Oil, Pryce Gases and LPGMA) to shed light on the issue.
Volkswagen, which marked its official comeback in the Philippines Sept. 28, right now offers only diesel-powered models Jetta 2.0 TDI, Touran 2.0 TDI, Tiguan 2.0 TDI and Touareg V6 TDI.
Decade-old issue
Over 10 years ago, the issue of lead and lead substitutes had already been a flash point between car manufacturers and fuel producers. In the Jan. 30, 2003, edition of Inquirer Motoring, the article “Your car versus your fuel” explaining why lead—which prevents engine knocking, among other things—was phased out and why lead replacement additives (LRAs) like MMT (methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl) had become equally controversial.
Lead, released through the exhaust fumes of motor vehicles, has been widely believed as one of the most harmful vehicle emissions, adversely affecting the fragile nervous system of children, slowing down their motor skills and their brains’ ability to develop. The phaseout of leaded gasoline starting April 1, 2000, was expected to improve this problem.
However, removing lead, one of the essential ingredients of gasoline, affected the octane rating of the fuel and significantly increased the risk of engine knocking. There arose a need to replace lead in gasoline.
LRAs come in different forms. These, however, are required to be environmentally acceptable and economically justifiable. Fuel producers have been pushing for LRAs such as MMT (which contains manganese) and MMTE (methyl tertiary butyl ether).
MMT’s interference
The 2003 article also cited that the use of MMT had been opposed by international car industries. However, MMT did find its way into the gasoline mixtures of certain oil companies in the Philippines.
It cited test results accumulated by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers regarding the effects of MMT. Previous tests had shown that the additive interfered with the performance of vehicles’ emission devices, resulting in the devices’ failure. The auto industry in the United States and Canada subsequently banned the use of MMT for reasons of product liability (affecting emission device warranties).
The Clean Air Act states, “The DTI shall promulgate the necessary regulations prescribing the useful life of vehicles and engines, including devices to ensure that such vehicles will conform to the emissions which they were certified to meet.” The 2003 article stated: “This (Clean Air Act) would be what the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) would invoke when they raise the issue against the use of MMT.”
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