Switzerland Bans Sales Of Some VW Diesels

The Environmental Protection Agency said 482,000 of the German car-maker’s 2009-15 models in the U.S. were fitted with the defeat device to switch engines to a cleaner mode when they are undergoing official emissions testing.

Volkswagen admitted to rigging a total of 11 million cars with the manipulative software, which actually emitted as much as 40 times the US standard for diesel cars.

The ongoing scandal VW faces regarding the use of so-called “defeat devices” – specialized sensors which would detect when a auto was undergoing emissions testing and change its engine output – has continued to worsen this week.

The taskforce has been in contact with importers of potentially affected cars, foreign registration offices, including in Germany as well as other Swiss authorities at both the federal and regional leve, the statement said. Porsche AG is an owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, but then VW itself is mostly owned by a different holding corporation, Porsche Automobil Holding SE.

Volkswagen introduced its new 2016 Passat model – which includes a diesel version – in New York on Monday just as the scandal over cheating on pollution controls broke. We will now have even stricter compliance.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said Friday that “currently emissions are measured on a laboratory test cycle (NEDC) which does not reflect the emissions of vehicles in normal driving conditions”.

“VW needs to be very open about what has happened, how it was possible that this could happen to make sure that this never happens again in the future”, said a leading Volkswagen shareholder, underlining the importance of the board meeting.

Former chief executive Martin Winterkorn stood down this week and said he was “not aware of any wrong doing on my part” in relation to the scandal.

Winterkorn, who had been CEO since 2007, said he took responsibility for the “irregularities” found by USA inspectors in VW’s diesel engines.

“We invite all member states – in addition to the ones who are already doing so – to carry out all the necessary investigations”.

“I have always been driven by my desire to serve this company, especially our customers and employees”.

The company says its moving “full speed” toward finding a fix, and it has set aside more than $7 billion to deal with it.