Opel Group CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann has reiterated the company's strong rebuttal of claims in the German media that it has rigged emissions tests on some of its diesel engine models.
Environmental activist group Deutsche Umweltilfe (DUH) in cooperation with German news organisation ARD and magazine Der Spiegel has claimed that Opel's Astra and Zafira models were producing "alarming" amounts of emissions and were equipped with "kill switches" that hid this fact from testers.
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Mr Neumann has issued a statement to reiterate Opel's position:
"Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), Monitor and Spiegel create the impression that they found new facts suggesting Opel uses unprecedented illegal defeat devices. These allegations are wrong!
"As we have stated before, we at Opel do not have any illegal software. Our engines are in line with the legal requirements. We anticipate the authorities to share this point of view. We have always cooperated transparently with the authorities in Germany and Europe and we will continue to do so. Opel already provided the KBA in October 2015 with the details regarding the company's engine software, engine calibration and engine emissions strategy. We will provide the public with more information after we have talked to the authorities.
"The recent accusations based on findings of hacker Mr. Felix Domke are misleading oversimplifications and misinterpretations of the complicated interrelationships of a modern emissions control system of a diesel engine. Emissions control devices are highly sophisticated integrated systems, which cannot be broken down into isolated parameters.
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By GlobalData"As methods and protocols of the activities by DUH, Monitor & Spiegel were still not shared with Opel, the company is not in the position to evaluate this part of the allegations. Based on our own and independent measurements and on the experience with experiments published by DUH before, we have to repeat that we do not believe that these results are objective or scientifically founded.
"We have naturally learned our lessons from the recent discussions with the authorities and in the public. With every new engine, we strive to be the benchmark. We will further improve the efficiency of emissions after-treatment of our SCR diesel engines, wherever we can and as far as the laws of physics allow. This includes a voluntary service action for cars already on the road, starting in June."
