VW brand chief says no evidence of more cheats -DPA

The U.S. Environmental Safety Agency states Volkswagen equipped 482,000 automobiles with software program in that turned off emissions controls & enhanced performance when the automobiles weren’t being tested.

On Friday, the company said the scandal was taking a toll on auto sales, with demand for the group’s 12 brands – including Audi, Skoda and Porsche – down 3.5 percent in October to 831,300.

VW group’s sales were however lifted by its biggest market China, where deliveries rose 1.6 percent to 312,200 cars for the month.

“The Volkswagen passenger cars brand is experiencing challenging times”.

“The entire company is working to restore the trust of our customers in the brand and our products”, VW brand sales chief Juergen Stackmann said.

The revelations of cheating on NOx emissions involving a few 11 million cars have sparked investigations in several countries. Under normal driving conditions, the vehicles exceeded limits for nitrogen oxide, a pollutant that can cause health problems.

The fall partly reflected temporary sales bans of diesel cars in Western Europe, VW said.

For CO2, the estimated provision amounts to about €2,500 per vehicle versus about €610 for the vehicles carrying the engine implicated in the NOx case.

Volkswagen is still investigating previous model years and what the correct Carbon dioxide ratings should be, the company said in a statement late Friday.

A “small but significant” number of owners have told the magazine that they no longer want their cars, Mr Holder said, as they viewed the vehicles as “damaged goods”.

The company’s reputation has suffered further since it admitted last week that it had made exaggerated claims about fuel economy and carbon dioxide emissions for about 800,000 vehicles in Europe.

Volkswagen already is offering $2,000 to current VW owners to trade in their cars for new vehicles, and the gift cards and vouchers would add $1,000 to that.