Germany has criticised Fiat for turning down requests to meet officials to discuss whether its vehicles comply with emissions regulations. German authorities carried out a widespread emissions probe after Volkswagen admitted last year to rigging its engines to meet pollution requirements.

As a result, several major car brands — including Fiat — showed up irregularities. Fiat officials were due to hold a meeting with German authorities on 19 May to discuss the problem but cancelled the talks abruptly (via a letter from a lawyer), apparently because the company considers Italian officials to be the right authority to look into the question of whether its vehicles comply with emissions regulations.

The probe carried out into the emission values of all vehicle models on German roads found that, of 53 models tested, 22 “emitted high nitrogen-oxide values and possessed a technical device that raised questions”. At specific temperatures, this device switches off systems that are meant to remove harmful nitrogen-oxide from the exhaust of the car.

Alexander Dobrindt, Germany’s Transport Minister, said that the systems for cleaning pollutants are de-activated at low temperatures to “protect engines or prevent a possible accident, as is allowed by EU regulations”, but it is not clear whether some makers used this provision to “bend the rules”.

He added that Germany will push for the loophole to be closed, to ensure that “manufacturers can no longer hide behind the excuse of protecting engines.”