Dieselgate: Renault in trouble, search warrants for Audi and VW

The storm surrounding the dieselgate scandal may have passed, there is still an ongoing investigation: in Germany, investigators went to several Audi locations and to its parent company, Volkswagen. In France, a leaked report spells bad news for Renault.

“Emission fraud for 25 years at Renault”

A leaked report from the French Ministry of Economics’ Fraud Prevention division, obtained by press agency AFP, claims that Renault’s entire board, including CEO Carlos Ghosn, was in on the company’s fraudulent emission tactics, which apparently started in the 1990’s. A former employee, who left in 1997, says the French car manufacturer already installed cheating software in its first generation of Clio cars, which launched in 1990.

French paper Libération also reported on the division’s report, saying the fourth generation Clio and the small SUV-typed Captur, both popular cars in their own branch, contained cheating software. Renault denies any culpability and promises to cooperate fully with the authorities, but also refused to comment on the ongoing investigation because it says it has no access to the actual case.

Search warrant for Audi and VW

German car manufacturers Audi and VW have not yet seen the end of the scandal either: investigators visited their facilities yesterday, both at the main office in Ingolstadt and across seven other Audi and VW locations. The untimely visit coincided with Audi’s financial results publication at Ingolstadt, where it also divulged its plans for the future to the press corps.

The entire investigation seemed to revolve around Volkswagen, but the German court seems to suspect that Audi was an integral part of the infamous cheating software’s development, built into 11 million diesel cars from the VW group. In September 2015, the entire scandal came to light, with repercussions until this day.