10th Oct 2025 14:33
(Alliance News) - Five major car manufacturers go on trial at London's High Court on Monday in the latest chapter of the dieselgate emissions scandal that has rocked the global car industry for a decade.
The High Court will decide whether systems installed in Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Ford Motor Co, Peugeot-Citroen, Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co Ltd diesel vehicles were designed to cheat clean air laws.
The five lead defendants deny the accusations.
The huge trial will have ramifications for other manufacturers, potentially paving the way for "billions of pounds" in compensation, said Martyn Day, a lawyer at the firm Leigh Day, representing the claimants.
The dieselgate scandal first erupted in September 2015, when Wolfsburg, Germany-based carmaker Volkswagen AG was found to have cheated pollution tests by installing so-called defeat devices to reduce nitrogen oxide readings.
It caused waves in the global car industry, ensnaring several other top carmakers and leading to legal action in several countries.
The new trial, scheduled to last three months, comes after 1.6 million UK drivers brought complaints against the five lead defendants, as well as other manufacturers such as Jaguar Land Rover, Toyota Motor Corp, Vauxhall-Opel and BMW AG.
"It's much wider than VW (Volkswagen), it's for nearly all the manufacturers in this country," Day told AFP.
Although not all the carmakers are directly part of the trial, they could still be required to pay compensation depending on the judge's ruling.
Adam Kamenetzky, one of the claimants, bought a Mercedes SUV in 2018 on the belief that it was less polluting than other models.
He told AFP that after he had "paid a premium for what was supposed to be a green SUV, it turned out to be an absolute lie".
But for claimants like Kamenetzky, it will take some time for any possible compensation to reach them.
The trial beginning on Monday must first determine whether carmakers are liable, before a separate compensation phase can follow next year.
Stuttgart, Germany-based carmaker Mercedes told AFP that emissions control software was based on technical needs, not an attempt to cheat regulatory tests.
These mechanisms were "justifiable from a technical and legal standpoint", a spokesperson said.
Mercedes and Dearborn, Michigan-based carmaker Ford both rejected the claims as having "no merit", while Japan's Nissan declined to comment.
Manufacturers Renault and Stellantis, parent of Peugeot and Citroen, both said the vehicles they sold were compliant with regulations at the time.
The High Court in 2020 found that Volkswagen had used defeat devices in breach of EU rules to pass emissions tests.
Volkswagen settled a class action out of court, paying GBP193 million to 91,000 British motorists.
Overall to date, Volkswagen AG has had to pay more than EUR32 billion in penalties over the scandal, mostly in the US.
By Alexandra Bacon
source: AFP
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