Renault charged with deceit over diesel emissions scandal; fine imposed

French investigators have imposed a charge on the automaker, Renault. The charge is said to be for deceiving the public and the environmental boards of the emissions of the cars. The charge is in reference to the ongoing fallout from the dieselgate scandal when famous automaker Volkswagen admitted to having cheating tests almost six years ago.

The automaker Renault is supposed to pay a total fine of 20 million euros (S$32 million) as a bail payment to clear its names from the scandal. Further, the automaker is also expected to provide a 60 million euros (S$ 96 million) bank guarantee, allowing them to cover fines, potential damages, and compensation for the losses incurred. In its defense, the company in a statement on Tuesday admitted that it’s presumed innocent and hasn’t done anything wrong.

“Renault denies having committed any offense and reminds that its vehicles are not equipped with any rigging software for pollution control devices,” the company said, adding that it “has always complied with French and European regulations.”

As per reports from Bloomberg, the charges leveled against Renault are a result of the investigation that opened against the company in 2017. The incident followed shortly after Volkswagen settled down its civil and criminal cases in the United States. The end results of the investigation were that the German automaker pleaded guilty to fraud against the government and obstruction of justice.

In its defense, Renault head of engineering Gilles Le Borgne said, “Renault deceived no one. What we know from the Volkswagen case is not at all the same for Renault. We don’t have defeat devices in our cars and never had them.”

In addition to scrutinizing Renault, the French investigators have also been conducting probes of PSA Group, VW, and Fiat Chrysler. The latter two merged earlier this year to form Stellantis NV. 

Lastly, considering the seriousness of the case, the automaker is blamed to have taken a heavy loss on its goodwill. 

Also read: Volkswagen to get S$462 million in dieselgate settlement