Shares in Mercedes-owner Daimler slide after news of emissions investigation

Shares of Daimler slid more than 5.5%, hit by news that the US Department of Justice had asked the car maker to investigate its emissions certification process for vehicles, including its Mercedes brand.

The investigation comes six months after the US Environmental Protection Agency said it would review diesel vehicles following an admission from Volkswagen that it installed software in cars allowing them to emit up to 40 times legally permissible level of pollution.

Daimler chief financial officer Bodo Uebber declined to elaborate on what prompted the investigation when the company published earnings for the first three months of the year yesterday.

Daimler said first-quarter operating profit fell 9% as launch costs for its new E-Class and currency effects weighed on results.

In early April, owners of US Mercedes diesel cars filed a new class action saying the vehicles was likely to contain a “defeat device” used to cheat emissions testing, an accusation that Daimler denied.

Daimler yesterday reiterated that it considered the class action suits to be without merit, and the company will defend itself with all available legal means.

Rival VW has been in deep crisis due to the diesel emissions scandal.

Seeking to move on, it has proposed fixing or buying back about half a million polluting cars in the US at a likely cost of more than $10 billion (€8.9bn).

France’s Peugeot Citroen was raided by anti-fraud investigators on Thursday as part of investigations into pollutants in the industry.

Reuters