European Union officials blew whistle on VW emissions scam: U.S. authorities

It follows the Volkswagen emissions scandal in which a few diesel cars had software fitted created to cheat emissions tests.

The emission scandal affected company’s turn over and its credibility.

“We not only face the diesel and Carbon dioxide issues but also tense situations on world markets”, Stackmann said.

Discounting by Volkswagen has intensified in November, and the company “seems to be aggressively targeting corporate buyers in an effort to counter the diesel scandal”, Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer and Karsten Neuberger of the Centre for Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen wrote in a report this month.

Volkswagen already is offering $2,000 to current VW owners to trade in their cars for new vehicles, and the gift cards and vouchers would add $1,000 to that.

Last month, Volkswagen sold 490,000 cars under its main VW brand, a fall of 5.3pc cent compared to October 2014. The EPA said earlier this month that another 10,000 cars made by Volkswagen and its Audi and Porsche brands may also have bypassed the tests, though Volkswagen did not admit at that moment.

Volkswagen has not acknowledged any impropriety, although it did stop sales of all affected models. VW is now beginning the brand rehabilitation process with its first U.S.ad campaign since the news broke. However, the letter from Diess says Volkswagen can not guarantee that employees would avoid prosecution if they admit involvement.

Volkswagen managed to maintain its hold on the top spot, but the company’s declining fortunes came against a backdrop of higher auto sales across the continent. That contributed to an industrywide incentive increase to 12.2 percent from 11.8 percent a year earlier.

All the major national markets recorded sales increases in October except for the United Kingdom, where registrations fell 1.1%.

Nevertheless sales for the Volkswagen Group, Europe’s biggest carmaker, dropped 0.8% last month, while its European market share slipped to 25.2%, down from 26.1% in the same month previous year.

Acceptance of the offer will in no way prohibit the auto owners from taking part in any class-action or individual suit against the company, or exclude them from any future compensation.

The core Western Europe region grew 2.5% to 1.06 million vehicles in October and rose 8.1% to 11 million vehicles in the first 10 months of the year.