Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn apologized to customers on Sunday for breaking their trust.
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The company said it was halting sales of some cars in the U.S.
The main talking point in markets though was the 20 percent slump in Volkswagen’s share price following revelations the German carmaker rigged US emissions tests for about 500,000 diesel cars.
Winterkorn said the company will “cooperate fully” with the EPA investigation and has ordered “an external investigation of this matter”.
Volkswagen’s market woes followed a weekend that saw the company’s reputation for probity seriously damaged by revelations from the Environmental Protection Agency in the USA that it had skirted clean air rules.
It said VW might need up to a year to carry out the recall.
The EPA said Friday that VW used software that allowed its diesel cars to release fewer smog-causing pollutants during tests than in real-world driving conditions.
The allegations affect 482,000 diesel cars sold in the U.S. , including the 2009-15 Jetta, Beetle, Audi A3 and Golf, and the 2014-15 Passat.
Volkswagen stock hit its lowest level in almost three years, and pulled down shares in other German automakers such as Daimler and BMW.
The EPA said cars had been fitted with sophisticated software algorithms which detect when they are undergoing officials emissions testing, and turns full emissions controls on only reducing the test. It is a type of software known as a “defeat device”.
Volkswagen could face civil penalties of $37,500 for each vehicle not in compliance with federal clean air rules. The cost to Toyota, including fines, was a little more $5 billion, according to Warwick Business School’s Stadler. The Japanese automaker recalled 9 million cars between 2009 and 2011 after some of its vehicles experienced unintended acceleration, way more than the half-million or so that VW is having to take back.
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“Our climate policy stands for itself and I think it’s internationally recognized that Germany is one of the drivers on the way to (the worldwide climate summit in) Paris”, he said.
