Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ US business has reached a plea deal to resolve a years-long criminal probe into allegations it rigged diesel-powered vehicles to cheat on emissions, according to a person familiar with the agreement.
The accord with the US Justice Department would include a guilty plea and a payment of about $300 million (R4.7 billion) and could be announced as soon as next week, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the pact isn’t yet public.
The company, now known as Stellantis NV, has been under investigation since at least 2017 for allegations the automaker equipped roughly 100,000 diesel-fueled Ram trucks and Jeep SUVs with software designed to evade US pollution tests.
A spokeswoman for Stellantis, formed from the merger of Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA Group, and the Justice Department declined to comment on the agreement.
The probe is part of a government crackdown on pollution compliance after Volkswagen AG admitted in 2015 that it deliberately rigged hundreds of thousands of cars sold in the US with illegal software to circumvent emissions checks.
The German automaker in 2017 pleaded guilty to criminal charges and agreed to pay $4.3 billion (R67 billion) in penalties.
Fiat Chrysler in 2019 agreed to pay about $800 million (R12.5 billion) in fines and other costs to settle civil claims brought by the US and others for violations of emissions laws.
Later that year, the first criminal charges were filed against a then-senior Fiat Chrysler engineer, who was accused of conspiring with others at the company to mislead regulators and the public about pollution spewed by the vehicles.
The agreement was reported earlier by Reuters.
Keyword: Jeep owner Stellantis agrees to pay R4.7-billion fine