The Environmental Protection Agency said that officials from the Volkswagen group informed it that technology the EPA says is an illegal “defeat device” was on all model years for the larger engines since 2009, rather than just the 2014-2016 models, as originally reported.
Advertisement
But now, the EPA says the issues identified in that second Notice of Violations now extend to vehicles equipped with the 3.0-liter engines from all model years 2009 through 2016. The two agencies plan to investigate.
Shares in Volkswagen are rising amid reports that the cost of fixing its scandal-tainted cars – at least in Germany, where there are 2.4 million of them – might be far lower than expected.
VW’s preference shares, down about 34 percent since the crisis broke, were up 1.6 per cent to 107.55 euros at 1240GMT. VW also could buy back a few of the older cars, which date to the 2009 model year.
Stertz said the software is legal in Europe and it’s not the same as a device that enabled four-cylinder VW diesel engines to deliberately cheat on emissions tests.
The German carmaker is cutting spending by a billion euros ($1.07 billion) in the coming year, CEO Matthias Mueller announced Friday.
Among other things, the company said it would postpone a new design center in Wolfsburg and the introduction of an all-electric Phaeton sedan.
” ‘We’re driving cautiously over the coming months, but we know where we want to go and we want to ensure that the Volkswagen company comes out of the current situation strengthened, ‘ he told reporters”.
California Air Resources Board spokesman Dave Clegern said Audi admitted that the vehicles had auxiliary emissions control equipment that was not disclosed to the US government.
Advertisement
The disclosure widened the VW scandal, which had previously focused mainly on smaller-engined, mass-market cars, and raised the possibility that engineers at both the Audi and VW brands could have been involved in separate emissions schemes.
