Renault emissions too high, but no cheating devices found

Peugeot also has released a statement saying the emission tests carried out by the government on its cars showed no anomalies and that it has not been subject to searches by fraud investigators.

“This is not under consideration for the moment”.

Less helpfully, she went on to confirm that preliminary emissions readings from the “real road” tests carried out so far, on Renault cars and other manufacturers’ models, have been significantly higher than the official figures.

Royal said that the French independent technical commission set up in the wake of the VW scandal, which presented its results to the minister in a meeting on Thursday, had found nothing wrong in Renault’s cars.

A union official, Florent Grimaldi, said: “There were searches at several Renault sites by fraud investigators”.

Renault said investigations to date had found “no evidence of a defeat device equipping Renault vehicles”, in a reference to a type of software programme Volkswagen was found to have used by USA investigators.

That has prompted investigations across several countries into Volkswagen but also into other automobile manufacturers to ensure they have abided by regulations. Volkswagen is still facing fines that could potentially run into tens of billions of dollars in the United States since it admitted rigging emissions tests for a range of its diesel vehicles.

We remind you that yesterday after the news started spreading Renault’s shares plunged by up to 20% at one point, before ending the day with a 10.28% decrease.

The software on VW engines could detect when the vehicle was undergoing pollution tests in garages and lower emissions, but then allow the auto to pollute much more when being driven on the road. By the end of last month, 11 cars have already been fully tested, including 4 Renaults.

The company said in a statement fraud investigators had “decided to conduct an additional investigation on parts and sites with the aim of definitively validating the initial analysis by the independent technical commission”.

The French government has a vested interest in Renault’s fortunes, owning a 19.7 percent stake in the carmaker.

German carmaker Daimler said diesel engines that Renault supplies for its Mercedes-Benz brand do not contain defeat devices used to cheat on emissions tests.

The French government announced the random tests on about 100 cars in September.

Renault contested the findings.