BMW shares slip as it gets caught up in Volkswagen emissions scandal

According to Automotive News, the European Federation for Transport and Environment issued a report this month, before Dieselgate blew up, raising “doubts about the integrity of Europe’s emissions testing”.

BMW AG fell as much as 9.3 percent in Frankfurt after a German magazine reported that the X3 xDrive 20d sport utility vehicle emitted as much as 11 times the European limit for air pollution in a road test, adding to concern that the investigation weighing on Volkswagen AG may spread to other manufacturers.

“There is no difference in the treatment of exhaust emissions whether they are on (test) rollers or on the road”, the German luxury-car maker said on Thursday.

“It is clear that the Federal Office for Motor Traffic will not exclusively concentrate on the VW models in question but that it will also carry out random tests on vehicles made by other carmakers”, he said.

By contrast, VW shares shot up 7.9 percent to hit an intraday high of 120.30 euros, as investors went bargain hunting following the meltdown in the share price earlier this week as the extent of the scandal became apparent.

The SUV was road-tested by the global Council on Clean Transportation, the same group whose tipoff led USA regulators to investigate a gap between Volkswagen AG diesels’ emissions in tests and on the road, Germany’s Autobild reported.

A BMW spokesman told CNBC that there were “no specific activities or technical provisions which influence the emissions recorded during the test mode”.

Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, said that reports of another major carmaker having potentially been “at it” would hardly come as a surprise.