Dieselgate: Opel in the sights of the German authorities

Berlin – Opel, a subsidiary of PSA, is subject to an investigation by the German authorities into the scandal of diesel engines rigged, said Saturday the German Ministry of Transport.
  

" There is an official hearing against Opel for three models (of the diesel standard) + Euro 6+ ," a ministry spokesman told AFP, adding that " nothing definitive " could be said before the final results of the proceedings.

In its forthcoming edition Sunday, the tabloid Bild, which does not quote its sources, says that the Federal Automobile Agency KBA, guardianship of the German automotive sector, holds " solid elements "that the exhaust management system of certain Opel diesel models completely shut down while driving" for reasons that are not technically explainable ".

According to Bild, these are the Cascada, Insignia and Zafira models. In total, 60,000 vehicles would be affected worldwide, including 10,000 in Germany.

They would exceed " more than 10 times " standards for nitrogen oxide emission, writes Bild. " Current production is however not affected ," the paper continues, citing internal sources at Opel.

According to Bild, the KBA informed Opel " this week " of his suspicions and gave him " two weeks " to give his answer.

" Opel did not receive any information from the KBA ," the manufacturer said on Twitter.

The BKA had already asked in 2016 to several manufacturers, including Opel, to reduce their emissions, recalls the German press agency DPA. For Opel, 90.000 vehicles of the models pointed by Bild – Zafira, Cascada and Insignia – were then concerned.

The process of voluntarily standardizing these models continues, said a spokesman for Opel, quoted by DPA.

Opel claimed in 2016 " not to install illegal software " in its cars. " Our engines meet the legal standards ", then said the manufacturer, recalls Bild.

The rigged diesel engine scandal erupted in September 2015 after the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accused Volkswagen of equipping 11 million diesel cars, including about 600,000 in the United States. software capable of distorting the results of pollution tests and concealing emissions sometimes exceeding 40 times the permitted standards.

Since then, several German public prosecutors have opened investigations for fraud, stock market manipulation or false advertising against Volkswagen employees and its Audi and Porsche brands, but also Daimler and the Bosch equipment manufacturer.

Several senior executives of Volkswagen, including former boss Martin Winterkorn, are subject to various investigations for fraud, stock market manipulation or misleading advertising.

In June, the German judiciary remanded the boss of Audi, a subsidiary of Volkswagen, to the first incarceration of a very senior official in this sprawling investigation.