EPA to evaluate another VW diesel emission control device on 2016 models

German authorities have now demanded that VW recall 2.4 million diesel vehicles equipped with defeat devices, pushing away the automaker’s requests to keep the callbacks voluntary.

“We have a long list of questions for VW about this”, she said Tuesday at a dedication ceremony for a new heavy-duty truck testing lab in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The carmaker is under pressure to identify those responsible for the wrongdoing and fix up to 11 million affected diesel vehicles worldwide.

Volkswagen had said previously there were around 8 million vehicles affected in the EU.

Volkswagen already faced an ongoing criminal investigation and billions in fines for violating the Clean Air Act for its earlier emissions cheat, as well as a raft of state investigations and class-action lawsuits filed on behalf of customers.

Last week, Volkswagen submitted its recall plan to German regulators, in which it states the repairs of its three diesel model vehicles that were broadly involved in producing emissions more than prescribed limit. It has been criticised by politicians, investors and consumers for the time it is taking to produce answers.

We assumed by now, Volkswagen would tell us what is going on with the company as they continue to drag their diesel cheating scandal through deeper and deeper waters. Additionally, the scandal has also wiped out a third of the company’s market value, making it the worst crisis in the automaker’s 78-year history.

Mr Ziehe said: “We’re talking terabytes, not gigabytes [of data], and certainly many cartons of paper”. “But we won’t let that happen”. According to a study by Roland Berger consultants, more than 50 percent of all new passenger cars sold in Europe run on diesel, which is favored for its fuel economy, despite its higher emission of pollutants.

Around 117,000 vehicles are affected in Portugal, the country’s economy minister said on Thursday – 102,000 Volkswagens, Audis and Skodas and 15,000 SEATs.

“It is not because one company – Volkswagen – has cheated that everyone should be suspected”, said Royal, adding that French giants Peugeot Citroen and Renault had “guaranteed they did not have any cheat devices”.

France said on Wednesday it planned to reduce a tax break on diesel fuel.

VW has not yet given full details of the recall but said it would contact individual customers directly.