France Sets Renault Probe -- WSJ
January 14 2017 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Nick Kostov
PARIS -- French prosecutors have opened an investigation into
Renault SA on suspicion of emissions fraud, blunting the auto
maker's efforts to distance itself from the scandal that engulfed
German rival Volkswagen AG.
The Paris prosecutors office said it has assigned three
magistrates to probe whether the French auto maker engaged in
fraudulent practices that made its diesel-powered vehicles
"dangerous to human and animal health."
Renault on Friday denied using so-called defeat devices --
trickery used by Volkswagen -- to cheat on emissions tests and said
it complies with French and European rules.
The prosecutors' action, which builds on an investigation
carried out last year, marks the first time a French auto maker has
faced a criminal probe in the mushrooming emissions scandal. The
probe doesn't target Japan's Nissan Motor Co., which has a
development, procurement and production alliance with Renault.
Last year, France's antifraud authority began an emissions
investigation into Renault and other car makers after Volkswagen
admitted using defeat devices to dupe laboratory emissions tests.
The antifraud authority searched Renault's headquarters; an
engineering facility in Lardy, south of Paris; and a technical
center in Guyancourt, west of the French capital. The regulators
discovered abnormal levels of nitrous oxide from some of Renault's
diesel engines, and in November passed those findings on to state
prosecutors to determine whether any action should be taken.
It was large discrepancies between laboratory and on-road
testing that first tipped off U.S. investigators that Volkswagen
used emissions-cheating software.
During the past week, Volkswagen formally admitted to criminal
wrongdoing in its diesel-emissions cheating in the U.S. and agreed
to pay $4.3 billion in criminal and civil fines. Separately, on
Thursday, U.S. regulators accused Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV of
using software on some of its diesel vehicles that allowed them to
skirt pollution restrictions, an accusation the company has
denied.
The flurry of moves against automobile makers has shaken the
industry and suggests systemic weakness in the European Union's
regulatory regime. The recent action also offers ammunition to the
criticism that national governments protect their local industrial
champions at the expense of the 28-nation bloc's rules and
citizens' welfare.
Even after admitting to rigging engines, Volkswagen hasn't been
charged with any wrongdoing in the EU and insists its actions
weren't illegal there. The EU's executive arm called the U.S.
allegations against Fiat Chrysler "worrying," but has launched no
action of its own, saying member states had refused to grant it the
authority to do so.
--William Boston and Eric Sylvers contributed to this
article.
Write to Nick Kostov at Nick.Kostov@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 14, 2017 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)
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