VW Emissions Scandal: 98,000 Petrol Vehicles Affected by CO2 Issue In Germany

According to Germany’s transport minister, around 98,000 VW petrol vehicles are caught up in the automaker’s latest emissions scandal.

That follows an admission by VW that it had found “irregularities” in CO2 emissions levels that could affect 800,000 vehicles.

It came to light as a result of an internal investigation by the firm following the diesel emissions scandal.

On November 3, VW admitted that an internal investigation had revealed that carbon dioxide emissions and fuel consumption were understated during standards tests on about 800,000 cars.

The company said the issue mainly affected diesel cars.

However, on November 4, Germany’s Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt told the country’s parliament: “Today we were told that among the affected vehicles are 98,000 petrol vehicles”.

VW, Skoda, Audi and Seat vehicles could be affected and the company estimates the CO2 problem could cost it about €2 billion.

Volkswagen had already set aside €6.7 billion to meet the cost of the initial emissions scandal.

News of the issue with CO2 emissions sent VW shares down by 5.6% on November 4.

The company’s shares have lost about a third of their value since September, when the scandal first broke.

It came to light after the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found VW software had detected when vehicles were undergoing emissions tests, and altered the way they operated to give more favorable results.

On November 2, the EPA also alleged that VW had fitted nitrogen oxide defeat devices on 3.0 liter diesel engines used in Porsche, Audi and VW vehicles – a claim VW denied.

Porsche also denied the allegations, but its North American division announced it is discontinuing sales of Porsche Cayenne diesel sport utility vehicles until further notice.

The carmaker is recalling 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide that were fitted with the software that circumvented tests for emissions of nitrogen oxide.

That recall is for cars with variants of the EA 189 diesel engine built to the “Euro 5” emissions standard.

Meanwhile, VW is recalling 92,000 cars in the US over a mechanical problem that could affect vehicles’ brakes.

The German carmaker said part of the camshaft could shear off, causing loss of vacuum in the power brakes, which could lengthen stopping distances.

Today’s recall includes Beetle, Golf, Jetta and Passat models from 2015 and 2016. The cars have 1.8 liter and 2 liter turbocharged petrol engines.

VW discovered the problem after getting reports of camshaft failures. A fix is expected by the end of March.