German Minister of Transport Alexander Dobrindt, escalating a months-long feud with Italy over vehicle emissions, said the European Commission must ensure that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s cars that break pollution rules are taken off the market, Bild am Sonntag reported.
“The Italian authorities have known for several months that Fiat, in the opinion of our experts, uses illegal shut-off devices,” the Sunday newspaper quoted Dobrindt as saying. “Fiat has so far refused to participate in the clarification” of the matter and the commission “must consequently ensure that a recall is organized for the Fiat vehicles.”
Italian Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Riccardo Nencini said in a statement on late Friday that the “insistence of the German government after the responses given by the Italian ministry is incomprehensible.”
The Italian government is collaborating with the European Commission, Nencini said after the EU’s executive arm said German authorities have expressed serious concerns on emissions of the Fiat 500x.
Fiat is under investigation by the US Department of Justice over its alleged failure to disclose software that violated emissions standards, according to people familiar with the matter, another legal hurdle for a company already under criminal scrutiny for its sales practices.
The possibility of a criminal action over diesel emissions violations comes after the US Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday last week said that it found software in 104,000 Jeep Grand Cherokees and Ram 1500s that allowed the automaker to exceed pollution limits on the road.
“We have repeatedly asked Italian authorities to come forward with convincing answers as soon as possible,” the European Commission said in an e-mailed statement on Friday.
The commission’s initiative was welcomed by the German transport ministry, with spokeswoman Svenja Friedrich telling reporters on Friday that “the EU Commission is now doing exactly what has been demanded for a long time: It’s talking again with the Italians.”
Germany’s KBA motor vehicle authority has carried out investigations on several Fiat vehicles, Friedrich said at a regular government news conference. “The result was that a considerable reduction of the exhaust gas cleaning function occurs after a certain time. We are still of the opinion that these are unlawful switch-off facilities.”
Under EU rules, Italy is responsible for testing Fiat because the automaker’s regional operations are based in the country.
Italy has always adopted a “severe, transparent” stance on auto emissions, Italian Minister of Transport Graziano Delrio told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published on Sunday.
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