FCA senior manager charged in diesel emissions probe

A senior manager at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles was charged in connection with the Justice Department's probe into excess emissions in diesel vehicles, according to documents unsealed Tuesday.

Emanuele Palma, a diesel drivability and emissions senior manager at FCA, was charged with conspiring to commit wire fraud, defraud the United States, violating the Clean Air Act and making false statements about the emissions system used on Fiat Chrysler's U.S. diesel vehicles, according to a grand jury indictment dated Sept. 18.

Palma was arrested by the FBI at his residence in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., without incident this morning, Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said. read more »

German prosecutors indict top VW bosses over emissions scandal

German prosecutors have accused Volkswagen’s CEO of holding back market-moving information on rigged emissions tests four years ago, raising the prospect of fresh upheaval at the carmaker just as it tries to reinvent itself as a champion of clean driving.

Prosecutors in the city of Braunschweig said on Tuesday they would press criminal charges of stock market manipulation against Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess, as well as non-executive Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch and former CEO Martin Winterkorn.

The charges show how the German company, which in September 2015 admitted using illegal software to cheat U.S. diesel engine tests, is struggling to move on from a scandal which has cost it more than $30 billion in vehicle refits, fines and provisions. read more »

German prosecutors fine Daimler almost $1 billion for breaking diesel rules

Daimler will pay a fine of 870 million euros ($957 million) for breaking diesel emissions regulations, German prosecutors said on Tuesday.

The maker of Mercedes-Benz cars said it would not appeal against the penalty and that it was keeping its earnings forecast unchanged.

The fine ends some of the legal uncertainty surrounding the Stuttgart-based company.

Prosecutors and regulators around the world have been investigating carmakers since Volkswagen’s admission in 2015 that it cheated U.S. diesel pollution tests, which led to revelations of rule breaches by a number of manufacturers. read more »