Volkswacht Bodensee - Renault to face criminal trial in France over dieselgate

The French carmaker will be the second referred to criminal court in France after Volkswagen over what has become known as the dieselgate scandal.

The scandal erupted in September 2015 when German automaker Volkswagen admitted fitting millions of vehicles with software to make engines appear less polluting in regulatory tests than in real driving conditions.

It caused waves in the global car industry, ensnaring several other top carmakers and leading to legal action in multiple countries, including Britain, France, South Korea and the United States.

The order sending the case to trial was signed on Friday and the decision communicated to the parties on Monday.

An investigating judge is still reviewing a similar request by prosecutors to send Peugeot-Citroen and Fiat Chrysler -- now part of Stellantis -- to trial.

The first procedural hearing for the Renault trial is scheduled for April 2027.

"Renault Group will defend its innocence, as well as the professionalism and ethics of its 100,000 employees, before the criminal court," the company said in a statement.

It pointed to a recent decision by the High Court in London that largely exonerated Renault and four other carmakers from charges that the devices were designed to cheat clean air laws.

"The operating limits of the emission control systems strictly reconcile emissions reduction with driver safety," said the carmaker.

"Renault Group firmly disputes having committed any wrongdoing."

It alleged that foreign hedge funds were behind the investigation in the hope of financial gain.

To date, Volkswagen has paid more than 32 billion euros ($36 billion) in penalties over the scandal, mostly in the United States.

The prosecutor's office said in documents reviewed by AFP that Renault vehicles sold between 2009 and 2017 were equipped with devices that allowed them to detect emissions tests and meet the regulatory thresholds but emitted more pollutants under normal driving conditions.

It said such devices contributed to higher atmospheric pollution of nitrogen oxides that are suspected of "provoking the development of respiratory diseases in humans".

S.Leonhard--VB