VW suspends sales of diesel models in US

Transport minister Alexander Dobrindt said the government wanted to force the company to pay the extra vehicle taxes which would be incurred by the higher Carbon dioxide emissions levels.

“Volkswagen Group of America is working with regulators and will take all steps necessary to remedy any issues, including a potential emissions recall”, said the advisory. Of equal concern is that while so far, VW’s diesel engines have been in the spotlight, this latest problem not only affects the company’s diesel engines but could also involve its petrol engines.

The biggest scandal in VW’s history has sullied its reputation, left it exposed to billions in fines in the United States, knocked about a third off its stock market value in a week, and forced a leadership change. However, the number of gasoline vehicles affected by the problem is marginal and these are all from Europe. The EPA found “defeat devices” created to trick emissions tests on a few of VW’s large sport utility vehicles powered by diesel.

However, the EPA said earlier this week that it found a difference in emissions, specifically nitrogen oxide levels, during rolling road testing and real-world testing.

This new revelation will add $2.2 billion to VW’s costs arising from the growing scandal.

The latest admission provoked a few of the strongest criticism yet from the German government of Volkswagen, which is part of an auto industry that employs over 750,000 people in the country, has been a symbol of German engineering prowess and dwarfs other sectors of the economy.

These are the first that threaten to make a strong dent in vehicle sales at the company since the scandal first erupted as they might deter consumers who are cost conscious, said analysts.

VW has already stopped selling recent diesel models in the U.S. and Canada.

The sales of the VW vehicles with 3.0-liter V6 diesel engines have been halted.

Volkswagen claimed it was ceasing sales not because the vehicles contained the cheating devices, but because it wanted to ensure that it fully understood the EPA’s regulations. Porsche, which had also denied the existence of the trick software on the V6 TDI, announced the stop sale of Cayenne Diesel models, saying that they reached that decision voluntarily “in view of the unexpected U.S. EPA notice received”.