Stellantis hit with $300 million in fines for emissions cheating
A federal judge sentenced the U.S. division of Stellantis, formerly known as Fiat/Chrysler, to pay $300 million in penalties for cheating on government emissions testing on “clean EcoDiesel” Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs and Ram 1500 pickup trucks, The Detroit News reports.
According to the FCA’s settlement for the emissions cheating, nearly $204 million is for the suspect models sold, plus an additional penalty of more than $96 million. The company also is sentenced to three years of probation.
Says Christopher Pardi, general counsel and corporate secretary for FCA in North America: “The company accepts responsibility and regrets the conduct that resulted in this plea agreement.”
If this sounds familiar, recall that five years ago Volkswagen pleaded guilty to criminal charges to resolve emissions cheating allegations affecting nearly 600,000 vehicles. “Dieselgate” resulted in VW paying a $2.8 billion criminal fine, though total penalties, civil damages, and restitution have neared $35 billion, the automaker said in 2020.
By those standards, it would seem Stellantis, which recorded an $8 billion profit in the first half of 2022, got off easy.
