Following the arrest last month of Porsche’s head of powertrain development Joerg Kerner, Porsche faces an astronomical $598 million fine as punishment for the company’s role in the diesel emissions cheating scandal that has played out over the last few years. Prosecutors in Stuttgart on Tuesday argued that the company had neglected legal obligations, which led to diesel automobiles reaching consumers that emitted far more pollution than advertised or displayed in testing.
This fine for Porsche follows a 1 billion euro penalty for Volkswagen, and a judgement of 800 million euro levied against Audi last year. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency authorities made Volkswagen’s emissions cheating public in late 2015, and in the years since Volkswagen Group has been issued over 30 billion euros in penalties and fines.
Porsche sold diesel-powered versions of the Cayenne and Panamera which made use of Volkswagen’s V6 TDI engine. German prosecutors have taken action against individual engineers involved as well as the companies and their lack of oversight as managers did not take appropriate steps to prevent the heavily polluting cars from leaving the factory.
Porsche has not made an appeal against the findings, and Porsche has essentially said the matter has run its course.
