VVolkswagen, the biggest car manufacturer (in terms of sales) has been caught cheating on their tests, more specifically the official emissions test in the US. The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has found that software installed in a number of the company’s diesel cars, was designed to sense when tests were taking place and adjust settings that help VWs to produce 40 times fewer emissions than in general use.
Having admitted that they have ‘totally screwed up’, the latest figures show that there are over 11 million cars within the Volkswagen Group – including Audi, Skoda and Seat – fitted with these devices – with 500,000 of those being in the US. VW have not yet revealed how many of these vehicles are in the UK or, elsewhere in Europe. It’s safe to say that America is not happy, with hundreds of lawyers getting ready for what could be a very expensive year for Volkswagen. The German car giant has put aside £4.7 billion to cover any costs involved however there are a potential $18 billion worth of fines coming their way.
Whilst Volkswagen have apologised, replaced Chief Executive Matthias Mueller with Martin Winterkorn and reportedly fired some of their senior R&D heads it seems as though this scandal has still badly tarnished the Volkswagen name and possibly reputation, with share prices dropping.