Dutch drivers planning massive lawsuit against Renault for diesel emissions fraud

Automotive group Renault is being taken to court in the Netherlands because of a new mass claim in connection with the diesel emissions scandal. According to the foundation Emission Claim, the French company manipulated results of diesel vehicle emissions for years, and as a result, the vehicles emit up to sixteen times the legal amount of harmful nitrogen oxide.

It concerns about 300,000 cars that were made between 2009 and 2019. Emission Claim wants drivers of the diesel vehicles registered in the Netherlands to contact them to be part of the lawsuit. Emission Claim is aiming to reclaim about 20 percent of the purchase price for them, which means the claim could top 3 billion euros, a spokesperson for the organization said in after making an initial calculation.

According to the foundation, it is very important that as many people as possible report. "So that we stand before the court in Amsterdam with as many affiliated victims as possible for the upcoming lawsuit on 8 December," a statement read.

The case is being financed by American class-action attorney Steve Berman, who has already negotiated major settlements in the United States, including in cases about the diesel scandal against both Volkswagen and Mercedes. In addition to the case against Renault, he is also financing diesel mass claim cases against Mercedes and Stellantis, the parent company of Peugeot, Citroën and Opel.

It is not the first case against Renault in the Netherlands. Earlier, the Car Claim foundation also filed a large mass claim suit against Renault and its subsidiary, Dacia, because of the diesel scandal. When that claim was announced in November last year, a claim amount of up to around 1 billion euros was referenced. Car Claim is conducting proceedings against several car manufacturers together with the Dutch consumer association Consumentenbond.

The diesel scandal came to light at Volkswagen in 2015. That conglomerate then admitted to having manipulated emissions tests on a large scale with software that cheated by making diesel cars appear cleaner than they actually were. It later became clear that such software was also being used at other car companies.

Renault denies that they used software in its cars to cheat testing, the company said in a response. According to the company, all vehicles comply with the regulations of the countries where they are sold.