The agency cut the Wolfsburg-based firm’s rating by one step from A2 to A3, warning that fresh revelations about emission tests rigging and falsified fuel consumption data posed additional risk to the carmaker’s future sales and cash.
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“The Volkswagen executive board regrets the facts established”, he said of the internal probe that uncovered carbon emission irregularities, adding that the company would ensure that the correct emissions level are indicated following consultations with the authorities”. A few of these cars were gasoline-powered, Volkswagen said, moving the violations beyond the company’s diesel fleet for the first time.
An internal investigation into VW’s diesel emissions scandal found that figures for Carbon dioxide and fuel consumption were set too low during Carbon dioxide tests, the company said on Tuesday night.
That follows an admission by VW that it had found “irregularities” in carbon dioxide emissions levels that could affect 800,000 vehicles.
VW did not identify the vehicles affected by the latest discovery but said the flaw did not compromise their safety. An official with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States said the agency was still studying the Volkswagen statement. USA authorities said VW’s high-end brands, Audi and Porsche, were also implicated.
This stop sale order that was issued to U.S. dealers covered 3 liter, 6 cylinder diesel versions of their 2015-16 Audi A6, A7, A8, Q5 and Q7 and certified pre-owned models as well. I hope we will get through this at a few point. “If they start railing about our product we have a problem”.
Almost a month after vowing to make 11 million faulty diesel vehicles comply with emissions laws via a massive recall beginning in January and ending in late 2016, the embattled automaker has another problem.
It argued that the so-called Auxiliary Emission Control Devices (AECD) fitted into its engines were not created to cheat pollution tests, but maximize the engine’s performance under different driving conditions.
A VW spokesman did not immediately return a phone call from Associated Press seeking clarification about that.
In a related development, the Narendra Modi government said it had made a decision to issue a show-cause notice to Volkswagen India after tests showed a significant variation between on-road emission levels and readings thrown up during vehicle certification tests in the laboratory.
“Another week, another shock in the VW story”, Exane BNP Paribas analyst Stuart Pearson wrote in a note.
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Autodata has also revealed VW also had to give discounts on its vehicles to boost sales in October.
