BMW X3 fails emissions — European agency

In denying wrongdoing, BMW said two ICCT studies confirmed the BMW X5 and 13 other company vehicles tested, comply with the legal requirements concerning NOx emissions.

“Volkswagen is not the only carmaker whose cars produce high levels of nitrogen oxide”, said German weekly Auto Bild magazine, accusing certain vehicles in the BMW group of the same.

On Tuesday, Volkswagen admitted that 11 million of its diesel cars worldwide are equipped with devices that can cheat pollution tests, after shock revelations in the US.

The test was prepared for the global Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), the small non-governmental organisation that commissioned the American report that lead to the discovery of Volkswagen’s use of an emissions testing defeat device on around 480,000 USA market Volkswagen and Audi diesel-engined cars.

BMW said that there’s no system in its cars that responds to tests differently than it would operate on the road.

Auto Bild reported the model – which is manufactured exclusively at BMW’s facility in Spartanburg County, and is assembled at plants in Chennai, India, Kaliningrad, Russia, and Graz, Austria – tested even higher than the Volkswagen Passat.

NPR’s Yuki Noguchi says the counter-measures the EPA says it will deploy would be created to detect so-called defeat devices that block accurate test results.

BMW spoke openly about the accusations, assuring the press that the vehicles meet emissions tests both on the road and in the lab. Neither the EPA nor California Air Resources Board has approached them on the issue.

“Mueller, 62, would represent part of the fresh start that Winterkorn said was needed when he stepped down”.

“We will contact the ICCT and ask for clarification of the test they carried out”.

“We support the swift introduction of the new regulations to create clarity for consumers and the industry as quickly as possible”, the company said.

The Brazilian government wanted to find out whether the Volkswagen vehicles sold in Brazil also had the software.

Consumers in the United States and Europe have flooded Volkswagen dealerships with questions about repairs, whether their vehicles will lose value and whether their cars’ performance will be diminished with any changes to their engines.