MILAN (Reuters) – A foundation representing investors in the former Fiat Chrysler launched a class action lawsuit in the Netherlands on Wednesday against Stellantis, the group’s new legal entity, over alleged cheating on emissions tests for its vehicles, a document seen by Reuters showed.
Stellantis, also based in the Netherlands, was formed in 2021 from the merger of Fiat Chrysler and PSA and pleaded guilty in 2022 as part of a vast, multi-year investigation by the US Justice Department into diesel emissions conspiracy.
According to the text of the lawsuit filed by the nonprofit Fiat Chrysler Investors Recovery Foundation, the automaker failed, at least from 2014 to 2017, to report that it had installed illegal software in its vehicles to enhance their emissions.
“As a result, (it) has significantly penalized investors purchasing and/or holding Fiat Chrysler shares,” law firm Scott+Scott, which is assisting the foundation, said in a statement.
According to the law firm, investors potentially eligible for the class action are those who purchased, or held, Fiat Chrysler shares on the Milan Stock Exchange between October 2014 and May 2017.
The action benefits from external financing associated with the American asset management group Fortress Investment Group, according to the foundation’s website.
“This emissions scandal was covered up by Fiat Chrysler for years and impacted thousands of investors. The automaker must be held accountable as part of this class action,” said Flip Schreurs, president of the foundation, quoted in the press release.
Stellantis told Reuters that the company “believes this lawsuit is without merit and intends to defend itself vigorously.”
Fiat Chrysler has also found itself at the heart of investigations in Europe that have targeted many manufacturers, including PSA and Opel, now part of Stellantis, after the dieselgate affair that broke out at Volkswagen, but raised the question everywhere of the reality of the emission values ​​for which vehicles are approved.
Jan-Willem de Jong, partner at Scott+Scott, said the proceedings were initiated on Wednesday in the North-Holland District Court in the Netherlands and were served on Stellantis on Tuesday.
According to him, the court should decide on its next steps on December 4.
(Giulio Piovaccari, with contributions from Charlotte Van Campenhout, Gilles Guillaume for the , edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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