UK Diesel Cheating Scandal Snares Ford, Mercedes, Renault, Nissan And Peugeot/Citroen; Damages Pegged @ $8 Billion+
Car manufacturers decided they would rather cheat to prioritise “customer convenience” and sell cars than comply with the law on deadly pollutants, the first day of the largest group action trial in English legal history has been told. More than a decade after the original “dieselgate” scandal broke, lawyers representing 1.6 million diesel car owners in the UK argue that manufacturers deliberately installed software to rig emissions tests.
They allege the “prohibited defeat devices” could detect when the cars were under test conditions and ensure that harmful NOx emissions were kept within legal limits, duping regulators and drivers. Should the claim be upheld, estimated damages could exceed £6bn. The three-month hearing that opened at London’s high court on Monday will focus on vehicles sold by five manufacturers – Mercedes, Ford, Renault, Nissan and Peugeot/Citroën – from 2009. In “real world” conditions, when driven on the road, lawyers argue, the cars produced much higher levels of emissions.
The judgment on the five lead defendants will also bind other manufacturers including Jaguar Land Rover, Vauxhall/Opel, Volkswagen/Porsche, BMW, FCA/Suzuki, Volvo, Hyundai-Kia, Toyota and Mazda, whose cases are not being heard to reduce the case time and costs.
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The lead barrister also told the judge, Mrs Justice Cockerill, that manufacturers were trying to argue that numerous prior dieselgate rulings abroad, including in the US and European court of justice, did not apply to the UK. He said: “Our position is broadly that we will rely on foreign regulatory decisions as a matter of fact, rather than an opinion on law.” He said the defendants’ argument meant that “mainland GB becomes a sort of defeat device Brexit Island … But Northern Ireland is applying case law that you’re being asked to put in the bin.” Internal training and briefing documents from Ford in 2010 on defeat devices showed that “the manufacturers could and did understand the law exactly as we do now”, De la Mare said.
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/oct/13/carmakers-emissions-dieselgate-trial-mercedes-ford-renault-nissan-peugeot-citroen