Earlier news from Berlin said Volkswagen is looking into whether more vehicles contain software capable of cheating diesel emissions tests, potentially increasing the cost and disruption of a scandal that has rocked Europe’s biggest carmaker.
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“We have been informed that also in Europe, vehicles with 1.6 and 2.0 litre diesel engines are affected by the manipulations that are being talked about”, Alexander Dobrindt told reporters, adding it was unclear how many vehicles in Europe were affected.
In September, Volkswagen admitted to rigging emissions tests in the U.S. Earlier this month, Michael Horn, the head of its US operations, told a congressional panel that VW was considering compensating owners for the lost value of their cars.
“Volkswagen confirms today that no software constituting an improper defeat device as defined in law is installed in vehicles with EA 288 EU5 as well as EU6-engines in the European Union”.
A second Volkswagen diesel engine sold in Canada may have been fitted with software to cheat on emissions tests, the company revealed on Thursday.
German news agency DPA has reported that Volkswagen may consider offering owners of cars affected by the “dieselgate” scandal discounts on new purchases. A few legal experts say the automaker could be forced to buy back the cars altogether. The Company comprises 12 brands: Volkswagen passenger cars, Audi, SEAT, SKODA, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ducati, Volkswagen commercial vehicles, Scania and MAN.
According to a Google exec, the Volkswagen emissions scandal could have been avoided or at least mitigated if there were more female engineers working for Volkswagen. Volkswagen marketed its “clean diesel” vehicles as an environmentally responsible choice for buyers who also wanted peppier performance than they would get from a hybrid competitor, such as the Toyota Prius. And as far as corrective measures are concerned, VW announced that it will start a recall of the affected vehicles in 2016. But in other cases, Volkswagen may need to install new hardware, such as systems to inject chemicals into the exhaust to neutralize nitrogen oxide emissions.
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For now, Volkswagen and German officials are trying to assess the impact of widening USA investigations. Now it’s investigating older versions of another engine, the EA288.
