Prosecutors in Germany, Hungary, and Italy raided the offices of Suzuki this week over allegations that the automaker has been using a defeat device to fraudulently pass the jurisdiction’s emissions tests.
German officials said Wednesday that the investigation concerns people at Suzuki, whose European headquarters are in Germany, as well as Stellantis and parts supplier Marelli. The former supplied the Japanese automaker with diesel engines and the latter with parts for those engines, reports Reuters.
The searches were conducted as part of a coordinated action by Eurojust, the European agency for criminal justice cooperation. This issue may have an impact on more than 22,000 vehicles, reports DW.
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The searches were conducted in order to “counter the use of faulty emission devices in engines, used in cars of a Japanese producer,” Eurojust said. “The devices were allegedly fitted in the Italian-built diesel engines of large numbers of cars, giving the impression that the vehicles’ nitrogen oxide emissions were in line with EU regulations.”
The engines were reportedly put in vehicles at Suzuki’s production plant in Hungary that builds the SX4 S-Cross and the Vitara, which have been in production since 2013 and 2015, respectively.
A Suzuki spokesperson told Reuters that the company was cooperating with European investigations. A spokesperson for Stellantis, meanwhile, said that it was cooperating with the investigation and that its subsidiary, FCA Italy, had been asked to provide information and documents “regarding the use of allegedly impermissible emissions control software in diesel engines supplied to Suzuki.”
Marelli said it was also cooperating with the investigation and that it was “confident that we have always conducted our operations in full compliance with regulations.”
Both Stellantis and Suzuki have a history with diesel emissions improprieties. In Japan, Suzuki, along with Mazda and Yamaha, admitted to using false emission data for some vehicles in 2018. FCA, now a part of Stellantis, is in the process of resolving a U.S. fraud probe relating to diesel engines in Ram pickup trucks and Jeep vehicles.
