Opel: 'No excessive emissions'

Opel insisted Friday it had by no means violated European environmental standards. The message came in response to researchers claiming to have found excessive nitric oxide emissions for the carmaker's Zafira model.

Germany's environmental lobby group DUH alleged earlier on Friday that emissions of the Zafira 1.6 CDTi multi-purpose vehicle had been found up to 17 times higher than the current Euro-6 limit would allow, citing tests conducted by the University of Applied Sciences in Bern, Switzerland.

Researchers there had said emission levels went up drastically, surpassing the usual range when increasing friction resistance in the laboratory tests by letting the cars run on four rolls instead of just two.

VW the only culprit?

In a letter to the DUH, Opel wrote the differences in emission levels were not replicable in its own tests.

"Software developed by GM doesn't contain any features to control whether cars are subjected to emission tests," Opel said. "The accusations at hand are unambiguously wrong and unfounded."

Opel complained that despite making several request, the DUH had not made available its test results or information detailing under which conditions the tests were carried out.

DUH's accusations came in the wake of a scandal that rocked German carmaker Volkswagen. It had admitted to using software in millions of cars worldwide that was used to thwart diesel-engine emission tests.

hg/pad (dpa, Reuters)