Prosecutors take aim at Opel in ‘dieselgate’

Source: Xinhua | 2018-10-16

French-owned carmaker Opel became the latest household name of the German auto industry in prosecutors’ sights over diesel emissions, as authorities raided two factories belonging to the lightning-bolt brand and prepared a mass recall.

Federal transport authority KBA “filed charges” against Opel, accusing the manufacturer of “selling cars with manipulated exhaust control software,” said senior prosecutor Nadja Niesen.

She added that across Europe, around 95,000 cars had fallen under suspicion.

Opel said in a statement there were “preliminary proceedings on emissions” with searches at its factories in Ruesselsheim and Kaiserslautern. It said it was “fully cooperating with the authorities” and “reaffirms that its vehicles comply with the applicable regulations.”

Tracing its roots back more than 150 years, Opel and British subsidiary Vauxhall were bought last year by Peugeot maker PSA after decades under General Motors.

It was until recently one of a few corners of the mighty German auto industry relatively untouched by “dieselgate.”

The scandal followed Volkswagen’s 2015 admission to fitting 11 million cars worldwide with software — so-called “defeat devices” ­— to make them appear less polluting in lab tests.