A US probe into Fiat Chrysler
Automobiles diesel emissions will not impact accounts, FCA chief
Sergio Marchionne said Friday, saying second-quarter results
were in line with expectations and 2017 targets were confirmed.
Speaking at an Italy-USA forum in Venice, he also confirmed
the goals of the company's business plan covering 2018.
FCA has a swift solution ready to resolve the dispute over
its diesel emissions, FCA lawyers told a San Francisco federal
judge last month, referring to modifications proposed to the
Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources
Agency.
These modifications could be approved within the space of a
week, the lawyers said.
The Justice Department lawyer does not contest the fact that
it is a solution but disagrees on the proposed timeframe,
sources said.
On May 23 the US Justice Department on Tuesday filed a civil
suit against FCA after US authorities accused the Italo-American
carmaker of using software allowing higher-than-standard
emissions in 104,000 diesel cars, Bloomberg.
FCA said in a statement it was irked at the justice
department decision and intended to defend itself "strongly", in
particular against the possible charge of deliberately
installing cheat devices.
Despite the opening of the suit, FCA said it would continue
to work with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and
the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to "resolve the
agencies' concerns in a swift and amicable way".
In mid-January EPA notified FCA that it had broken the Clean
Air Act over diesel emissions from around 140,000 vehicles, the
EPA announced, stressing that FCA may face civil sanctions and
prompting Marchionne to say that no one would be so "stupid" as
to have fitted such software.
The vehicles mounted with software that allegedly allowed
above-limit diesel emissions are Grand Cherokee and Dodge Ram,
the EPA said. FCA shares dived 15% on the news and were
suspended from trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles "dodged the rules" on diesel
emissions and "has been found out", the EPA said.
By not communicating the existence of software affecting
emissions, FCA was guilty, it said, of "a serious violation of
the law."
The EPA said "all carmakers must play by the same rules" and
said "once again, a carmaker has taken a decision to get around
the rules".
EPA and California authorities "worked to to boost tests
after the Volkswagen case, and this is the result of their
collaboration".
FCA US said it had respected the rules and was ready to work
with authorities on the case.
FCA US said it believed "its emissions control systems
respect the applicable norms" and it was ready to collaborate
with the new administration "to present its arguments and
resolve the question in a correct and fair way, reassuring the
EPA and FCA US customers on the fact that the company's diesel
vehicles respect all the applicable norms".
FCA US said it "strongly hoped to be able to meet the EPA's
enforcement division as soon as possible and representatives of
the new administration, to show that FCA's (emissions) control
strategies are justified and therefore do not constitute defeat
devices according to the applicable rules, and to promptly
resolve the question."
There is nothing in common between the Volkswagen emissions
case and that of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Marchionne told a
recent press conference.
"We have been talking to EPA for more than a year,"
Marchionne said.
Marchionne said it was odd and "unpleasant" that the EPA had
decided to address the alleged case of emissions violations so
publicly.
Marchionne said that "as far as I know this company, I can
say that no one is so stupid" as to try to fit illegal software
to dodge emissions limits.
Marchionne went on to say that FCA will survive even if it is
fined $4.6 billion as some sources reported.
Stressing that the US Justice Department and the
Environmental Protection Agency probably worked together on the
case, Marchionne said he was very angry, according to Bloomberg
News.
FCA US could face a sanction of up to $4.63 billion for
allegedly breaking the US emissions rules, CNBC reported.
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