MOSCOW (Sputnik) – All major diesel car brands are selling vehicles in Europe that breach air pollution limits, with Germany's Volkswagen (VW) manufacturing some of the cleanest cars, the European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E) said on Monday.
"The failure to penalize VW in Europe is the tip of the Dieselgate iceberg with an estimated 29 million grossly polluting modern diesel cars now in use, a number that is still growing," the T&E said in a report.
The T&E created lists of the worst and the best performing companies in terms of environmental standards. The dirtiest Euro 5 vehicles are produced by Renault (including Dacia), Land Rover, Hyundai, Opel/Vauxhall (including Chevrolet) and Nissan, while the cleanest – by Seat, Honda, BMW 9including Mini), Ford and Peugeot.
Fiat (including Alfa Romeo and Suzuki that uses Italian engines), Opel/Vauxhall, Hyundai, Renault (including Nissan, Dacia and Infinity) and Mercedes are reportedly manufacturing the dirtiest Euro 6 cars, whereas Volkswagen, Seat, Skoda, Audi, Mazda and BMW (including Mini) – the cleanest ones.
"Over four in five cars that meet the Euro 5 standard for NOx in the laboratory (180g/1000km), and were sold between 2010-14, actually produce more than three times this level when driven on the road. Two-thirds of Euro 6 cars (most on sale since 2015) still produce more than three times the 80g/1000km limit when driven on the road," the report said.
According to the paper, a total of 69 percent of dirty diesel cars were sold in France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Last September, the Volkswagen emission scandal, commonly known as Dieselgate, became public when the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accused the automaker of using software to falsify emission test results for its diesel-engine cars. Millions diesel engine Volkswagen vehicles manufactured between 2009 and 2015 were estimated to have been programmed to cheat emissions tests for nitrogen oxide.
