VW Emissions Cheating Scandal Deepens

For Audi, the expansion affects only the 2009-12 Q7 SUV, Ward said, noting that the suspect device in the 3.0-liter diesels is different from the illegal software Volkswagen AG has admitted to installing on its 2.0-liter diesels in the US market.

USA environmental regulators say that software allowing six-cylinder Volkswagen diesel engines to cheat on pollution tests is on more models than originally thought.

The company is proposing to recalibrate the faulty software and resubmit it for approval.

The German automaker has been negotiating with the authorities on details of a plan to deal with 482,000 diesel vehicles sold in the USA that used deceptive software to duck emissions requirements.

“The most unfortunate aspect of this whole situation for Volkswagen is they have to start the healing process and the repairing process for their brand, and you can’t do that while the scandal is still growing”, USA Today quoted analyst Karl Brauer as saying.

Amid fears the emissions scandal could hit sales of diesel vehicles, Mueller said VW would increase spending on alternative technologies such as electric and hybrid vehicles by 100 million euros next year compared with previous targets.

Volkswagen and Audi told federal regulators Thursday that more vehicles than they previously had admitted had equipment rigged to cheat emissions tests.

While the problems were first associated with 2.0-liter engines, the EPA announced earlier this month that certain 3.0-liter engines had problems as well.

The EPA said in the statement on Friday night that VW had turned in its proposed fix, but the agency wouldn’t give details. Volkswagen also presented California regulators with a proposal to make those cars compliant with pollution standards. Those models included the 2015 and 2016 Volkswagen Touareg, and Audi’s A6, A7, A8 and Q5.

An investigation by the EPA found the cars emit up to 40 times the allowable amount of harmful nitrogen oxide while being driven. And, it is facing criminal probes in France, Italy and Germany, as well as lawsuits by 28 states in the United States.

The painful and expensive fallout from the diesel engine cheating scandal – 11 million cars worldwide, including 500,000 in the U.S., were illegally rigged to pass emissions tests – claimed a few big-dollar investments.