Renault faces French criminal trial over alleged diesel emissions cheating

Renault will face a criminal trial in France on aggravated fraud charges over allegations that devices installed in its diesel vehicles were designed to circumvent emissions regulations, the public prosecutor’s office told AFP.

The order sending the case to trial was signed on Friday and communicated to the parties on Monday. The first procedural hearing is scheduled for April 2027.

The prosecutor’s office said Renault vehicles sold between 2009 and 2017 contained devices that allowed them to detect emissions tests and remain within regulatory limits.

The vehicles allegedly emitted higher levels of pollutants under normal driving conditions.

Prosecutors said the devices contributed to increased atmospheric pollution from nitrogen oxides, which are suspected of causing respiratory diseases.

Renault denied wrongdoing.

“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.

Renault said the operating limits of its emissions-control systems balanced pollution reduction with driver safety.

It also alleged that foreign hedge funds had supported the investigation in the hope of financial gain.

Renault is the second carmaker sent to criminal court in France over the dieselgate scandal, after Volkswagen.

The scandal began in September 2015 when Volkswagen admitted installing software in millions of vehicles that made their engines appear less polluting during regulatory tests than under normal driving conditions.

An investigating judge is still considering a request from prosecutors to send Peugeot-Citroen and Fiat Chrysler, now part of Stellantis, to trial.

Volkswagen has paid more than €32 billion, or $36 billion, in penalties over the scandal, mostly in the United States.