Volkswagen shares are getting CRUSHED

Chief Executive Martin Winterkom has apologised, saying he was “deeply sorry” that the public’s trust in the company had been broken.

“Put simply, these cars contained software that turns off emissions controls when driving normally and turns them on when the auto is undergoing an emissions test”, Ms Cynthia Giles, an enforcement officer at the EPA, told reporters in a teleconference on Friday.

The “defeat devices” were installed on Volkswagen Beetles, Jettas, Passats, and Audi A3s manufactured between 2009 and 2015, as well as VW Golfs for the last two model years. The German automaker also faces billions of dollars in fines, although exact amounts were not determined.

It is a near certainty that VW will recall the cars to remove the allegedly illegal software that deceives emission inspection stations but whether it will be able to bring the cars into compliance with clean-air regulations without hampering their performance and gas-mileage is not known.

Under the US Clean Air Act, fines of up to $37,500 may be imposed on each auto , meaning VW could be fined more than $18 billion.

The cars in question could emit as much as 40 times the legal standard of nitrogen oxide, the report said. Asked whether Bosch had supplied the electronic control module central to the EPA test findings, a company spokesman said: “We supply components for exhaust after-treatment to several manufacturers”. This news comes as a big blow to VW’s expansion plans and overall sales in United States, with a potential global impact. He added, “We do not and will not tolerate violations of any kind of our internal rules or of the law”. In recent years, Professor Dudenhöffer said, the US has held diesel engines to higher standards than those applied by European regulators.

Consumer Reports announced it would remove its “recommended” rating from the Jetta and Passat diesels until it can retest the vehicles. “This matter has first priority for me, personally, and for our entire Board of Management”, Winterkorn said. Officials with the German Environment Ministry, the German government’s equivalent of the U.S. EPA, demanded over the weekend that VW provide proof that it hadn’t manipulated emissions tests in its home country.

The EPA worked in conjunction with the California Air Resources Board to uncover the defeat device, which is described as a piece of sophisticated software embedded in the cars’ computer systems.

Shoppers haven’t but been ordered to return to their sellers for a recall, and it’s protected to maintain driving the automobiles, stated Janet McCabe, appearing assistant administrator of the company’s Workplace of Air and Radiation.

“For now we see this as a Volkswagen issue”, he added. While there is no indication that other vehicle makers are manipulating emissions testing, the government has also requested further information from manufacturers to determine this.