The company later acknowledged that the programs were being used in as many as 11 million of its vehicles, including about 8 million sold in Europe and 2.4 million in Germany alone.
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France has opened a probe into possible fraud over software installed in diesel engines by Volkswagen which was created to get around emissions tests.
That software tweak, in turn, allowed Volkswagen to falsely claim that the cars – including the hipster-favorite Volkswagen Golf – were environmentally friendly.
Volkswagen will conduct a sweeping recall in the European Union of millions of vehicles tied to the so-called “Dieselgate” emissions scandal.
The owner of the VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat auto brands accounted for 23.3pc of the region’s vehicle sales last month, down from 23.7pc a year earlier and the company’s weakest showing since March. Adding to the company’s financial pain is the possibility that more cars than originally believed will require more than a software reconfiguration. The automaker hasn’t yet announced full details yet, but in a statement, Volkswagen said repairs “will begin in January 2016 – at no cost to our customers”. This week, Italian police raided VW’s local headquarters in Verona and its Lamborghini office in Bologna. By the time Volkswagen completes the entire global recall, the total price-tag could soar as high as billion (or 35 million euros).
A spokesman for the council, a grouping of labour representatives within the company, said it would support efforts to secure temporary jobs but was aware the company’s board was discussing “different scenarios”.
Volkswagen revealed last week that new diesel models slated to go on sale in the US also contained software that the EPA classifies as an “auxiliary emission control device” that is part of an engine warmup strategy.
Thursday also had Volkswagen suspending a fourth senior engineer, Falko Rudolph, and on Friday, the automaker appointed Lars-Henner Santelmann as new head of its finance division, Volkswagen Financial Services, in hopes of powering the battered brand out of this muddy trudge.
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In addition, the reputation of the once household name of Volkswagen is in tatters.
