France’s DGCCRF Clears Opel Of Diesel Emissions Cheating

Following earlier news that France’s DGCCRF has apparently found that Renault has been involved in diesel vehicle emissions testing manipulation for around 25 years now, the French consumer watchdog organization has revealed that a similar investigation into Opel has come up empty.

In other words, no evidence was found that Opel has been involved in the manipulation of diesel vehicle emissions testing.

The news is particularly interesting since Opel is now slated to be acquired by France’s PSA Group, Renault’s primary competitor in France. Coincidentally, of course, PSA Group and Fiat-Chrysler have both been accused by DGCCRF of suspected emissions fraud as well.

Here’s the news, as reported by Reuters: “France’s consumer fraud watchdog said on Monday it had closed its investigation into diesel emissions by Opel cars and would take no further action against the General Motors brand. The DGCCRF investigation, part of a wider probe carried out in the wake of the Volkswagen diesel test-cheating scandal, ‘did not bring to light any evidence of fraud’, the government agency said in a statement.”

With regard to PSA Group’s acquisition of GM’s Germany-based Opel division — a €2.2 billion deal that was approved only a couple of weeks ago — GM will “receive €1.32 billion for the Opel manufacturing business in the form of €650 million in cash and €670 million in PSA share warrants. An additional €900 million will be paid by the Paris-based carmaker and BNP Paribas for Opel’s financing arm, to be operated jointly and consolidated by the French bank,” as we reported at the time.