Renault has cheated for over 25 years on pollution tests for diesel and petrol engines with the knowledge of top management, according to a report by French fraud investigators obtained Wednesday by AFP. "The entire chain of management" up to the French car maker's chief executive Carlos Ghosn was implicated in the "fraudulent strategies", said the report, which led prosecutors to open a probe into Renault in January.
Renault swiftly denied the accusations. "Renault doesn't cheat," Thierry Bollore, the French car maker's second-in-command told AFP by telephone, saying all its cars complied with legal standards.
The report said there was no evidence of Ghosn having charged anybody else with approving the company's emissions control decisions, which therefore ultimately came under "his responsibility". Police suspect the automobile maker of putting in place the strategies "with the objective of creating false results for antipollution tests", and so to be seen to be complying with European regulations.
Renault shares plunged on the Paris stock exchange, closing 3.7 percent lower, after the Liberation daily first revealed the existence of the report earlier Wednesday.