PSA Group 'wants refund from GM over emissions challenges'

The PSA Group is said to be seeking a refund of between £529 million and £700m (€600-800m) from General Motors (GM) following its purchase of Vauxhall and Opel, in the belief that GM held back on fully explaining the severity of the brands' emissions challenges. 

According to Reuters, sources close to the sale report that PSA could be exposed to heavy fines if the problem is not solved by the time new EU regulations on emissions come into effect in 2020-21.

The new limits will be enforced with levies for manufacturers that aren’t compliant with the 95g/km fleet average CO2 limit. 

The solution to this would be shifting Vauxhall and Opel cars to PSA powertrains ahead of schedule. 

PSA accuses GM of misleading it over the challenges it will face in bringing the former GM Europe range into line with the 2020-21 limit and will use this as grounds for a legal claim. The claim has not yet been officially initiated, though. 

A GM spokesman told Reuters: “We are not aware of any claim submitted by PSA regarding future CO2 targets and we cannot speculate on issues that have not been raised with us. PSA undertook a robust due diligence process including their employees and many experts and lawyers. We provided them with substantial information.”

Autocar UK is awaiting comment from PSA. 

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