Dusseldorf The diesel affair could cost the automotive supplier Vitesco up to 250 million euros. The bill came from senior public prosecutor Malte Rabe von Kühlewein: He is leading the investigations in Hanover against managers and engineers at Vitesco and the former parent company Continental. 61 people are accused.

However, Vitesco does not want to pay, at least not the potential sum of a quarter of a billion euros. There is a dispute with the former parent company, which is based on the circumstances of the spin-off – and also revolves around whether Conti did enough in the diesel scandal to correctly assess process risks.

Vitesco was spun off from Continental AG in spring 2021 and also took with it the division that had worked on the VW engines. Volkswagen had manipulated its engines millions of times to pretend to be more environmentally friendly. When Continental separated, it was agreed that Vitesco would pay any fines resulting from the diesel scandal. The company set aside 80 million euros for this.