This is ‘not another Volkswagen scandal’ High Court hears as car manufacturers make their openings

Claimants in the NOx emissions case are ‘extending the scope of alleged prohibited defeat devices’ in order to pursue their case on behalf of 1.6 million motorists, the High Court heard this week. 

In opening statements for defendant Mercedes, Helen Davies KC added that the claimants' argued definition of defeat devices 'is an exercise which [causes] significant mechanical and engineering issues’.

‘Combustion in diesel engines produces various emissions, NOx is one of them, there are various others, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water, soot and others. Many are regulated polluters under emission regulations and regulated in the same was as NOx,' she said. 

‘We cannot just blindly ignore them. My learned friend Mr de la Mare [for the claimants] seemed to be suggesting those could just be ignored, something that might cause alarm to those concerned about climate change worldwide.’

She argued: ‘There is a point of diminishing return for reductions in NOx. An increase in [other] emissions outweighs the benefits in any further reductions in NOx.’

Neil Moody KC, for Ford, said: ‘Ford volunteered as defendants in this case and did so precisely because it has confidence in its technology and says the claimants’ case is without merit. The case remains what it has always been, which we say is fundamentally flawed on the facts and the law.

‘The implication, wholly unjustified, is that this is another Volkswagen scandal and all manufacturers are at it. Ford’s case is this is not another Volkswagen case.' No UK or EU regulator has found that any of Ford’s vehicles contains a defeat device, he said. 

Referring to the practice of calibrating vehicles in order to pass emissions tests, Moody said that was ‘not cheating the test’ adding: ‘It is not calibrating to cheat, it is calibrating to comply.’

Alexander Antelme KC, for Renault, added: ‘There are no prohibited defeat devices in the Renault core sample vehicles and that is because there are no defeat devices in them as defined by article 3 (10) [of the Emissions Regulations].’

In the current trial the judge will determine whether 20 sample diesel vehicles produced from 2012-17 by five car manufacturers contained prohibited defeat devices and, if so, whether the presence of the devices give rise to private law claims for breach of contract and breach of statutory duty. The car makers - Mercedes, Ford, Peugeot/Citroën, Renault and Nissan - deny wrongdoing. 

The trial before Lady Justice Cockerill continues.