#EmissionsCertification

As previously reported, vehicle certifications have been suspended during the current government shutdown. While this is normally a non-issue, the extended length of this federal deferment is starting to spook automakers.

Fiat Chrysler has already bemoaned the situation, as it’s currently waiting for the Environmental Protection Agency to approve its Ram Heavy Duty pickups. While the situation hasn’t become truly dire, other automakers have begun expressing concerns of their own.

Unless you’re employed by Uncle Sam, you may not have noticed the current government shutdown impacting your life by any meaningful margin. That, of course, has not kept the media from spending the entire month scaremongering and trying to place blame (Spoiler: It’s everyone’s fault, as these shutdowns happen anytime Congress has to agree on a new budget, and partisan politics keeps them from working toward any cooperative solutions).

While this is the longest partial shutdown of the U.S. government in modern history (take that, 1996), it hasn’t been quite as terrifying as the internet or television would lead you to believe. However, we’re starting to get a little uneasy at this point — because it looks like the situation could delay the launch of the Ram Heavy Duty we’ve prattled on about for the past two days.

Mercedes-Benz Canada’s surprise reveal of a diesel-powered C-Class Wagon at January’s Montreal International Auto Show has not been followed by the car’s arrival in Mercedes-Benz showrooms. Nor is it about to be.

Only yesterday we listed the C-Class Wagon, intended to go on sale in Canada as the C300d 4Matic, as one of eight cars Canadians have access to that Americans don’t. Recognizing that the 2017 C-Class Wagon wasn’t yet featured on the company’s Canadian website, our curiosity was further piqued by TTAC reader bortlicenseplate, who suggested that, “the C-Class Wagon is no longer Canada-bound.”

bortlicenseplate is mostly right. Mercedes-Benz Canada still intends to import the C300d 4Matic Wagon, but Mercedes-Benz Canada spokesperson JoAnne Caza told TTAC yesterday, “We’re still waiting for certification.”

Citing what they say is a need “to accommodate final emissions testing and certification,” Mazda confirmed to Automotive News that the U.S. launch of the diesel powered Mazda6 will be delayed from the end of this year until late April 2014.