Study Indicates That Pretty Much Everyone In Europe Was Cheating On Diesel Emissions

Normally companies prefer their news releases to be bite-sized morsels no longer than a page.

So when the media leveled allegations of emissions fraud against General Motors' European unit, the nine-page response detailing GM's position hinted at panic. It was titled "Statement of the Adam Opel AG on the Current Diesel Discussion," but one of Germany's leading newspapers suggested an alternate headline: "The longest denial in corporate history."

Opel's response typified the wariness of automakers swept up in the emissions controversy that has engulfed Europe's diesel industry since the U.S. EPA discovered the fraud at Volkswagen.