A Dutch journalist said Opel dealers are secretly updating emissions control software to bring into compliance cars equipped with the 1.6-liter diesel engine, disguising the fix as an unrelated software update.

Opel issued a statement strongly denying that it was changing emissions of its cars.

Dutch news site VRT News said it tested two cars with and without the updates and said emissions of nitrogen oxides were significantly reduced — more than half in one car and by three-quarters in another car.

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General Motors on Thursday denied that its own internal testing revealed the Opel Zafira 1.6-liter diesel flouted European emissions and fuel economy standards, Bloomberg reported (via Automotive News).

A German news magazine program, Monitor, said officials at Opel knew its midsize crossover polluted up to 15-percent more carbon dioxide than advertised, and that the automaker knew its fuel claims couldn’t be substantiated. The report also said that separate testing at a Swiss facility showed the Zafira exceeded advertised fuel consumption and emissions by 20 percent.

Or, in other words: Another chapter in the “Everyone Cheated/Just Volkswagen Cheated” saga.

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The last time I saw this car it lay bare and gutted in front of me. The seats had been pulled out, the dash taken apart and wires dangling. The carpets were in the process of being removed. All of this in an effort to find the source of an infestation that had plagued it.

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TTAC Commentator Sjalabais writes:

Dear Sajeev,

I am and have always been a car guy. Since I am an academic with two left hands and sausage fingers, my flavour have been indestructible 70s Volvos, of which I have owned a couple.

Now I am a father and a bit cash-strapped, with the need for an occasional 7 seater. A Volvo V70 with rear facing extra seats has been voted down in the household assembly, I am thus looking for a blob-shaped car. My location is Norway, but my issue is recognisable for any car guy in this situation, I fear. (Read More…)

Now that Opel workers in Bochum refused a plan to keep the factory open, now that an intervention by UAW’s Bob King went exactly nowhere, the question is where to move production of the Opel Zafira when Bochum closes its doors by end of 2014.

In the running: Rüsselsheim, Germany, and Ellesmere Port, UK. (Read More…)

Not to cut speculation short or anything, but the answer is “probably not.” GM has already said that its “Baby Enclave” will be built at its Orion Township plant, alongside the new Aveo-replacing Chevy Sonic, which indicates a subcompact (Gamma II)-based MPV will be Buick’s next vehicle. Add to that the fact that GM has said the “Baby Enclave” would bear the styling cues of the Buick Business concept, which the Opel Meriva more closely resembles, and it’s clear that Buick’s first MPV will be the suicide-doored subcompact. But, since Buick won’t bring the Chinese-market GL8 minivan stateside, this compact, Astra-based mini-minivan could be coming to a Trishield dealer at some point… in fact, some might even argue that a compact MPV would do better as a Buick than a subcompact one (even with suicide doors). Either way, the new Zafira will be crucial to Opel’s attempts to right its sinking ship over the next several years.