Volkswagen has admitted that even more cars — some 800,000 vehicles from the VW Group — are involved in the emissions scandal and this number includes gas-powered cars, not just diesel.
The automaker yesterday issued a statement saying that the VW internal investigation found “irregularities … when determining type approval CO2 levels.” It said about 800,000 vehicles could be affected and “the majority of the vehicles concerned have diesel engines.” VW estimates this will cost the company about $2 billion euros.
In September, the EPA said Volkswagen admitted to using “defeat devices” — software that circumvents emissions testing for certain air pollutants — in about 500,000 diesel vehicles.
Earlier this week the EPA issued a second notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to VW, saying the auto group installed defeat devices in additional model years of VW and Audi diesel vehicles, as well as Porsche diesel vehicles.
In light of yesterday’s announcement that the emissions scandal extends to some 800,000 cars, VW said: “The Board of Management of Volkswagen AG will immediately start a dialog with the responsible type approval agencies regarding the consequences of these findings. This should lead to a reliable assessment of the legal, and the subsequent economic consequences of this not yet fully explained issue.”
