Company Admits 800000 More Vehicles Have

Shares in Volkswagen have taken a fresh battering after a massive pollution scandal engulfing the company widened to include petrol as well as diesel engines. Volkswagen has denied that claim, but over the past two days halted sales in the USA and Canada of the models involved: the Volkswagen Touareg, Porsche Cayenne, and the Audi A6, A7, A8, Q5 and Q7.

The company now says that it has understated the level of carbon dioxide emissions in around 800,000 cars sold mainly in Europe. USA Today is reporting that Volkswagen has stopped sales of certain diesel Audi models after the Environmental Protection Agency accused the manufacturer’s vehicles of violating emissions regulations. The scandal expanded this week when the EPA said Volkswagen had put the cheating software on about 10,000 six-cylinder diesels in the US, including Porsche and Audi vehicles.

Three Volkswagen brands have issued new stop-sales orders in the U.S. after news broke that the group’s 3.0-liter diesel engines allegedly also contain defeat devices aimed at cheating emissions tests.

VW had already said that emissions cheating to fool tests for NOx pollutants affected 11 million vehicles worldwide. Since the Porsche Cayenne SUV also contains the 3.0-liter diesel engine.

On Tuesday, the German automaker revealed that an internal investigation had exposed “unexplained inconsistencies” in the carbon dioxide emissions from a few of its vehicles.

A VW group source familiar with the EPA investigation on Monday said, “We want to know more from the regulators about how they came to this conclusion”. This has deepened its existing scandal, where the automaker admitted that it has intentionally placed emission control software in its vehicles. Volkswagen lost 1.67 billion euros ($1.83 billion) in the third quarter, due largely to recall costs, and it warned that 2015 operating profit would fall significantly.

He said while VW is in the spotlight, the entire auto industry needs to look at emissions in general.

Meanwhile, Volkswagen is recalling almost 92,000 cars in the U.S.to fix mechanical problems that can knock out the power-assisted brakes.

Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator of the Office for EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, said: “VW has once again failed its obligation to comply with the law that protects clean air for all Americans”.