Years of negotiations appears to have finally hit upon a $300 million settlement between Stellantis’ FCA US division and the U.S. Department of Justice about diesel emissions fraud charges.
Reuters was first to reveal the deal struck between the two sides, where the former Fiat Chrysler will plead guilty to criminal conspiracy after it worked to cheat on emissions tests for more than 104,000 2014-16 model year Ram 1500 pickups and Jeep SUVs.
The news agency reported the agreement is expected to be announced next week, with the company making the plea in U.S. District Court shortly after. The talks have been ongoing for nearly five years.
Less than expected
The same charges were brought against Volkswagen, which led to the coining of the word “dieselgate” and helped to usher in the new era of electric vehicles. Volkswagen ultimately paid $30 billion in fines, penalties and the creation of Electrify America to hasten the development of an EV charging network.
That number also includes all of the civil fines against VW, including the buybacks and recalls. The number of FCA vehicles affected were less than a fifth of the total of VW’s 600,000 vehicle. However, initial estimates suggested the company could get tagged with fines as high as $4.6 billion, TheDetroitBureau.com, reported at the time, allowing “it could come in a substantially lower figure.”
Not entirely over
An FCA employee is preparing to face trial on charges he misled regulators about pollution from the vehicles targeted in the investigation. He’s not alone as two others were indicted in federal court in Detroit last April for their role in the diesel cheating.
Prosecutors in the Eastern District of Michigan charged the two Italian citizens, along with a previously charged co-conspirator, for their alleged role in a conspiracy to defraud U.S. regulators and customers. They claim the pair made false and misleading statements about the emissions controls and fuel efficiency of more than 100,000 diesel vehicles sold in the United States by FCA U.S.
According to court documents, Sergio Pasini, 43, of Ferrera, Italy, and Gianluca Sabbioni, 55, of Sala Bolognese, Italy, two senior diesel managers at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Italy S.p.A. (FCA Italy), a wholly owned subsidiary of Stellantis N.V. — along with a previously charged co-conspirator, Emanuele Palma, 42, of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan — were responsible for developing and calibrating the 3.0-liter diesel engine used in certain FCA vehicles.
Among their duties, the trio calibrated software in the diesel vehicles’ emissions control systems to meet emissions standards for nitrogen oxides formed when diesel fuels are burned at high temperatures, while reaching fuel efficiency targets set by FCA U.S.