Volkswagen loses €15.6bn of value over emissions fix

Volkswagen lost almost a quarter of its market value after it admitted to cheating on US air pollution tests for years, putting pressure on chief executive Martin Winterkorn to fix the damaged reputation of the world’s biggest car maker.

The shares plunged up to 23% yesterday in Frankfurt trading, extending the stock’s slump for the year to 31%. The drop wiped out about €15.6bn in value.

The company halted sales of the models involved on Sunday and said it’s co-operating with the probe and ordered its own external investigation into the issue.