More Volkswagen Cars May Have Cheating Software, German Official Says

As the scandal unfolded, it was revealed that roughly 11 million vehicles globally were emitting toxic nitrogen oxides at a rate up to 40 times beyond American regulations.

Authorities from India to Norway have announced new probes, while the United States environmental regulator said it would test all diesel auto models. That will prevent them from writing software allowing cars to recognize when they are being tested and turn on emissions controls.

Monday, September 21: Volkswagen shares plunge more than 20 per cent with the company halting the sale of diesel cars with four-cylinder engines in the US.

It’s not clear whether those Skoda cars cheated on any emissions tests. Mueller, 62, succeeds Martin Winterkorn, who quit on Wednesday. And claims that BMW cars might have similar emissions questions affected the company’s stock on Thursday, leading to a 9.7% drop.

The European Commission urged all member states to investigate the use of so-called defeat devices by carmakers to cheat emissions tests and said there would be “zero tolerance” of any wrongdoing.

“My most urgent task is to win back trust for the Volkswagen Group-by leaving no stone unturned and with maximum transparency, as well as drawing the right conclusions from the current situation”, said Mueller.

First, it was the news of the 500,000 vehicles in the US that were found to be part of the emissions cheating, and then it was an undetermined number in Europe where Volkswagen sells the majority of their cars. Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt told parliament on Friday that around 2.8 million Volkswagen vehicles in Germany are fitted with defeat devices.

Under his watch, Volkswagen will “develop and implement the most stringent compliance and governance standards in our industry”.

Volkswagen also plans to create a Porsche brand group that will include Bentley and Bugatti. He has since been replaced Matthias Mueller, who was previously CEO of VW’s Porsche subsidiary. The EPA has put fine of $18 billion to the VW Company and reported that it will now test 3-liter diesel engines of the automaker.

Why not just ask for whatever the cars were worth on the day before news of the scandal broke?