The scandal surrounding manipulated diesel engines is spreading. Investigators searched business premises across Europe on Wednesday and, according to the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office, confiscated communication data, software and planning documents.
At the center of the investigations into suspected fraud or aiding and abetting are those responsible for the Japanese carmaker Suzuki, Opel’s parent company Stellantis and the supplier Marelli, the public prosecutor said. Suzuki is suspected of having sold more than 22,000 vehicles of various types by 2018 having placed illegal defeat devices on the market. As a result, exhaust gas cleaning has been massively reduced or switched off, so that the vehicles in real operation emit significantly more nitrogen oxides than permitted. The customers were deceived about this fact. The software for the engine control is said to come in part from the supplier Marelli. The investigations are coordinated by the EU’s judicial authority Eurojust and are ongoing. Business premises in Bensheim, Heidelberg, Corbetta (Italy) and Esztergom (Hungary) are currently being searched by the Hessian police, the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office and the Italian and Hungarian investigative authorities. Suzuki Germany declined to comment on the investigation. The Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office has been investigating the supplier Continental for some time. The Frankfurt case is about the Japanese car manufacturer Mitsubishi, which was suspected of manipulating exhaust emissions and had obtained engines from the former PSA group (now Stellantis). The software is said to come from the subsidiary Vitesco, which has since been split off from Continental.
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