Peugeot parent company PSA Group is looking to recoup close half the amount it paid for Opel and Vauxhall from General Motors on claims that it was misled regarding Opel’s emissions strategy. The French automaker closed a deal with American counterpart on the sale of Opel and Vauxhall for $2 billion. The deal was completed just last month, but now PSA Group is up-in-arms over its claims that GM misled the company into believing that its Opel would miss the European Union’s 2021 CO2 emissions target for passenger vehicles of 95 grams of CO2 per kilometer. Barely a month after taking ownership of Opel, the French automaker now things that Opel would be at least 10kg/km over the limit.

The situation is tricky, but it’s particularly distressing for PSA. As it is now, Opel could be liable for up to $1.6 billion in fines on the back of EU regulations that call for a fine of around $150 for every gram over the limit for every new vehicle sold. “We became aware a few weeks after we finalized the closing that the company was going to the wall on CO2 emissions,” PSA Group CEO Carlos Tavares said at the launch of the French automaker’s turnaround plan.

According to Reuters, PSA’s discovery of Opel’s emission woes has forced the company to change its emissions strategy, including accelerating the adoption of fuel-efficient technology on Opel models in order for the company to meet carbon dioxide emissions standards before the new — and heavily penalized - limits are put in place by 2020.

PSA believes that GM misrepresented Opel’s CO2 challenges and emissions trajectory during negotiations between the two companies. It’s bad enough that each Ampera-e was priced at a loss of just under $12,000 for every unit sold. With the model already a sunk cost itself, PSA can’t afford to get slapped with steep penalties on the grounds of the models not meeting the new regulations standards.

The report from Reuters adds that representatives of both PSA and General Motors are already in discussion regarding the issue. Neither side has commented on the extent of the discussions, but if negotiations go sideways, we could be headed towards a nasty legal battle between two automakers that deserve better luck than what they’ve been getting in recent years.

References

Opel Amera-e

Read our full review on the 2017 Opel Ampera-e.

Read more Opel news.