Stellantis follows Renault and VW into French courts over diesel emissions

11/06/2021

Stellantis has joined Renault and Volkswagen with a summons to court in France to answer allegations of consumer fraud in connection with the sale of Euro 5 diesel vehicles.

The car manufacturing giant confirmed that it will have to pay bail of €10 (£8.6m) and a bank guarantee of €30m (£25.8m) after officially being placed under examination by the Judicial Court of Paris this week.

Peugeot is the initial target of the investigation – which relates to the sale of diesel vehicles in France between 2009 and 2015 – but Citroën and FCA have also been summoned to appear before the court, on June 10 and in July, respectively, as part of the same investigation.

A statement issued by Stellantis said that Peugeot was currently “in the process of assessing its defence options”.

It added: “This formal step in the judicial investigation will allow the investigated parties to have full access to the case file and give them the opportunity to defend against allegations that have not yet been evaluated in adversarial proceedings.

“The companies firmly believe that their emission control systems met all applicable requirements at the relevant times and continue to do so and look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate that.

“The Stellantis Group, which was established in January 2021, will continue its predecessors’ policies and cooperate fully with the justice system in order to resolve this matter expeditiously.”

AM reported yesterday that Renault had been charged with deception in relation to an emissions probe which has being ongoing since 2017.

Renault has been ordered to pay 20 million euros (£17.2m) in bail and provide a bank guarantee of 60 million euros (£51.5m) to cover any compensation orders.

VW was also charged on May 6 and must pay 10 million euro (£8.6m) in bail and provide a 60 million euro guarantee.

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