The European automotive industry has received a massive boost after lawmakers across the continent voted in favour of giving companies more leeway in reducing fuel emissions.
Under the latest proposals, the laboratory-run tests that controversially enabled Volkswagen (DE:VOW3) to cheat the system, and got Renault (FR:RNO) into hot water at the beginning of the year, will be replaced with more accurate on-road testing ones.
The final trigger for this change was the discovery that Renault's lab testing systems failed to reflect hot or very cold weather, a point discovered after French authorities raided the company's offices. Alarmingly, French energy minister Ségolène Royal admitted that several other unnamed firms had been guilty of committing similar errors.