Following the results being published, a spokesman from Ford said all its vehicles and engines met the current French and European emission regulations carried out in laboratories but added: “Unofficial on-road testing has varying conditions and can produce significantly different results”. The company had previously said it would spend €50 million ($54 million) to bring its real-world tests of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions in line with lab results.
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French authorities launched heir own investigation into Volkswagen in September after it emerged some of the German manufacturer’s cars were installed with software allowing them to cheat emissions tests.
Renault executives will meet with technical experts representing the French government to explain why the Captur SUV and two other diesel models have NOx emissions far higher than legal limits, a French newspaper has reported. “We are not using any software or other methods”.
Deliveries increased to 2.8-million cars and vans a year ago – a record for the group – at a rate that was more than double the global market’s 1.6% rise.
“But when we are no longer in test conditions, there is indeed a difference between real conditions and control conditions, that is a fact”.
Mr. Koskas didn’t give a specific date for when the plan would be announced. The French auto maker now uses a technology called NOx absorber, which is cheaper and simpler than a rival system called selective catalytic reduction, but it’s also less efficient. Renault spokespeople didn’t immediately return a call for comment Tuesday.
Shares in Renault and other auto companies skidded last week amid fears that the emissions scandal engulfing Volkswagen may be spreading sector-wide. On Friday, they lost another 3.4 percent.
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The manufacturer, which confirmed last week that three of its factories had been raided by investigators looking for emissions-test defeat devices – similar to those being used by VW – has yet again reiterated it has not cheated European Union vehicle tests.
