BMW shares plunge on report it broke pollution limit

“All these data show that the problem is not specific to VW”, Peter Mock from ICCT was quoted as saying.

The sharp stock market reaction underscores the skittishness among auto-industry investors in the wake of accusations by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that Volkswagen AG used software to manipulate emissions-test results for its U.S.-sold diesel passenger cars. In those test, emissions from a BMW X5 sports utility vehicle matched or came in under what the vehicle produced in laboratory tests, the researchers said they found. But two Volkswagen models, a Jetta and a Passat, far exceeded emissions levels from lab testing.

VW’s supervisory board will discuss the Winterkorn’s replacement on Friday following the CEO’s abrupt resignation Wednesday. The company has shed billions in market value, and it still faces more than $17 billion in potential fines in the US alone. German newspaper Bild reported Thursday that Audi development chief Ulrich Hackenberg and Porsche development head Wolfgang Hatz will leave their posts.

In a report earlier this month, ICCT said that on-road testing of 32 European diesel cars from 10 automakers found that the average vehicle was generating NOx emissions at twice the regulatory limit.

A spokesman for Daimler said on Thursday the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars did not use so-called defeat devices employed by Volkswagen and complied with rules on nitrogen oxide emissions around the world.

Auto Bild appears to be referring to a separate set of tests.

“A special software installed on a small computer recognizes that the vehicle is not running normally, but instead, running in test mode”. As the scandal widened, many other carmakers saw their shares slide on fears they too might be involved.

Other ways a test might be detected, the EPA says, range from the position of the steering wheel to barometric pressure. “However, there are concerns for the long-term damage on the business with diesel cars”.

Emissions measured in road tests of 15 new diesel cars were an average of about seven times higher than European limits, according to a study ICCT published last October. This is a big deal because more than half of new vehicle registrations in the European Union past year (53%) were related to diesel cars.