On July 4, 2008 Mercedes-Benz ushered in the dawn of a new era. The centre of competence for emissions-free commercial vehicles (known by its German acronym of 'KEN') has been expanded to become the Mercedes-Benz Production Competence Centre for Natural Gas Drive. With the formal opening of the new building, the company can push ahead with its aim of positioning natural gas powered vehicles in all segments.

When it was first established in October 1994, KEN was part of the Commercial Vehicles division. Since 2002 the centre has been part of the Vans division, as the largest projects from that time onwards involved vans. At that time the predecessor of today's Sprinter was manufactured there with a monovalent natural-gas engine.

The E-Class and the Econic are already being fitted with natural-gas engines at the Mannheim plant. With the opening of the new facility, they will be joined by the Sprinter and the B-Class. There is an impressively wide variety of models: up to 16 natural-gas variants of the Mercedes Sprinter, for example, will be available from the Mercedes-Benz Production Competence Centre for Natural Gas Drive. in Mannheim.

A gas-powered vehicle combines the benefits of environmental protection with efficiency and practicality. The advantages include a considerable reduction in emissions and noise, substantially lower maintenance costs and a large range when used in combination with the conventional engine.

The customer-driven concept of KEN is reflected in unit sales, which have grown exponentially since 1994. In 2003, 300 vehicles were sold while the planned figure for 2008 is 5,000, and the trend is upward.