Daimler dragged into emissions investigations by US authorities

Shares in German automaker Daimler fell more than 5% in morning trading in Frankfurt on Friday, after news emerged that the US Department of Justice asked the firm to investigate its emissions testing processes.

It came six months after the Volkswagen scandal, when the Environmental Protection Agency in the US promised to review all diesel vehicles after VW admitted to installing cheat software in its cars to circumvent the country’s heavy diesel emissions rules.

Daimler also published its first quarter earnings in Frankfurt on Friday, with first quarter operating profit falling 9% due to foreign exchange effects, and the launch cost for its new Mercedes E-Class.

“We cannot go into details,” said Daimler’s chief financial officer Bodo Uebber on the DoJ investigation at a press meeting about the results. The group issued a statement in the US on Thursday, saying it was cooperating with authorities.

“[We] will consequently investigate possible indications of irregularities and of course take all necessary actions,” the statement read.

Daimler had previously indicated to analysts at BNP Paribas that there were delays to getting emissions certification for some of its GLS and GLC sports utility vehicle models.

At the time it put that down to the extra scrutiny from US authorities following the VW scandal.

There was also surprise among some analysts that the DoJ appeared to be acting alone in this investigation - in stark contrast to the deep cooperation shown between it, the EPA and the California Air Resources Board over the Volkswagen revelations last year.

Daimler’s investigation rounded off a tough week for the auto industry when it comes to testing - Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors shares plunged in Tokyo after it admitted to falsifying fuel efficiency test data on a number of domestic models.

France’s Peugeot-Citroen was also under fire on Thursday, when its office was raided by fraud investigators as part of wider pollution investigations