Volkswagen admits manipulating diesel emissions tests in Europe

“We don’t yet have figures for how many of these 11 million cars that are apparently affected are in Europe”, Mr Dobrindt said.

Dobrindt told German lawmakers that vehicles with 1.6 and 2 litre diesel engines in Germany were affected by the manipulations, Xinhua news agency reported.

Most of us have heard about about the scandal involving emission controls on VW diesel cars but I doubt that many realize how serious it is.

Volkswagen has admitted rigging emissions tests in Europe in the same way it falsified results in the U.S., Germany’s transport minister has said.

Volkswagen workers’ cars sit outside the company’s Wolfsburg headquarters.

Winterkorn had come under intense pressure since last Friday’s disclosure from the Environmental Protection Agency that the company had tried to dupe testers over emissions coming from its diesel cars. On Thursday, he said spot tests were also being conducted on cars made by other brands, German and foreign.

The crisis escalated Tuesday when Volkswagen revealed it had found significant emissions discrepancies in 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide.

The new CEO said his priority is winning back the trust that has been lost in the company after the scandal.

In addition to the leadership shakeup, VW’s overarching Supervisory Board has announced a restructuring that touches every area of the organization. As well as the cost of regulatory fines and potentially refitting cars, Volkswagen faces criminal investigations and lawsuits from cheated customers and possibly shareholders.

But in a statement dated September 20, ex-Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn – who resigned over the scandal on Wednesday – said he was “deeply sorry’ for violating USA emissions standards and ordered an external investigation”.

“As part of this work they will re-run laboratory tests where necessary and compare them against real world driving emissions”. “I am clearing the way for this fresh start with my resignation”, he said.

Volkswagen’s board is widely expected to announce its new chief executive, thought to be Porsche boss Mattias Muller, later today.

The company has been ordered by the United States government to recall 4.82 lakh cars of VW and Audi brands produced since 2009.

Huber said the board would task a USA law firm with helping investigate the scandal.