Germany reportedly plans to retest all Volkswagen models to determine their actual emissions levels as the automaker grapples with a global scandal over how it masked carbon-dioxide emissions from millions of its cars.
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The sales of the VW vehicles with 3.0-liter V6 diesel engines have been halted.
VW is now engulfed in a massive pollution-scandal that has so far centred on so-called defeat devices, sophisticated software fitted into diesel engines to skew the results of tests for nitrogen oxide emissions.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said its testing uncovered similar software in seven new models equipped with 3-liter V-6 diesels: the 2014 Volkswagen Touareg, 2015 models of the Porsche Cayenne and 2016 models of the Audi A6 Quattro, Audi A7 Quattro, Audi A8 and Audi Q5. The two main cars affected are the VW Polo and Golf, but a few cars from the Audi, Seat, and Skoda brands are also included.
This signals that it’s not just diesel engines that are the source of VW’s troubles, but that petrol engines are also affected.
The company said Tuesday that the new finding could add at least 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) to the 6.7 billion euros already set aside to handle the crisis. Volkswagen has denied the charge, but faces the prospect of more fines and lost sales.
Amid concerns over the escalating costs, the German carmaker’s ordinary shares slid 9.5 percent Wednesday. The agency cited “mounting risks to Volkswagen’s reputation and future earnings” from this week’s developments. “Public trust is at stake here”, commission spokeswoman Lucia Caudet said Wednesday. “We expect that for these cases the vehicle tax will need to be adjusted”, he said. The main pollutant in petrol vehicle is carbon dioxide. Most are diesel-engined – but not all.
The United Kingdom said it was “pressing VW to provide urgent clarity”. The company has hired law firm Jones Day to investigate.
“From the very start I have pushed hard for the relentless and comprehensive clarification of events”, Volkswagen Chief Executive Matthias Mueller said in a statement.
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“We all have an interest that everything at VW is turned over and reviewed”, Mr Dobrindt said, adding that the government wanted to force the company to pay the additional vehicle taxes to be incurred by the higher CO² emissions levels. The software also doesn’t turn on “temperature conditioning” if it doesn’t sense the vehicle is being tested.
