The software at the center of Volkswagen’s emissions scandal in the USA was built into the automaker’s cars in Europe as well, though it isn’t yet clear if it helped cheat tests as it did in the US, Germany said Thursday.
Advertisement
Audi, along with Bentley and Bugatti, are all part of the Volkswagen Group.
At Volkswagen of Oakland, California, almost two dozen new diesel cars have no chance of being sold in the short-term, while 25 2016 model vehicles are being held up at the Port of San Diego because they can’t pass emissions standards, sales manager Chris Murphy said.
“It will be tough for VW to regain its credibility in the United States after this incident”, he said.
Scandal-hit German car-maker Volkswagen (XETRA:VOW) has begun the search for a new boss after its chief executive stepped down.
More than €20bn has been wiped off the value of VW – the world’s biggest auto company by sales – by the crisis and German chancellor Angela Merkel is calling for decisive action from the company.
The crisis that ignited in the United States when the environmental watchdog said 482,000 diesel-powered VW cars sold there broke emissions controls limits – opening up the company to multi-billion-dollar fines – has now spread across the Atlantic. “We’re just one dealer”, he said, adding that diesel models make up about 30 per cent of the business. Consumption could rise 5% to 7% at high speeds or other driving conditions because components needed to clean emissions can dent engine performance. It programmed its cars to detect when they were being tested and alter the running of their diesel engines to hide their true emissions.
Horn acknowledged this week that the company had “totally screwed up” by deceiving USA regulators about how much its diesel cars pollute.
In Germany, now hosting the Frankfurt motor show vaunting the industry’s strengths and environmental credentials, the government launched an investigation into whether Volkswagen or other carmakers are doing anything similar in Germany or Europe. German rival BMW said on Thursday it had not manipulated tests, after a magazine reported some of its diesel cars were found to exceed emissions standards.
Recommendations for new personnel will be presented at the upcoming meeting of the supervisory board this Friday.
Dealers say traffic in Volkswagen showrooms is drying up in the US, deepening the pressure the auto maker has experienced in recent years as market share has fallen.
“We are not familiar with the test mentioned by Auto Bild concerning the emissions of a BMW X3 during a road test. No specific details of the test have yet been provided and therefore we cannot explain these results”, it said.
In the end it could turn out that all 11 million cars with the Type EA 189 Diesel engine are affected.
Volkswagen said in a statement on its website it was working to answer these questions as quickly as possible.
The biggest bank in the Nordic region, Nordea, said it was barring its traders from buying Volkswagen shares and bonds for six months over the emissions scandal.
Advertisement
“We really need to get to the bottom of: Where we these decisions made?”
