Volkswagen emissions scandal spreads to petrol cars

Volkswagen said it found faulty emissions readings for the first time in petrol-powered vehicles, widening a scandal that so far had centred on diesel engines.

Separately, the company’s Porsche unit said it is halting North American sales of a model criticised by US regulators.

Volkswagen said an internal probe showed 800,000 cars had “unexplained inconsistencies” concerning their carbon-dioxide output. Previously, the carmaker estimated it would need to recall 11m vehicles worldwide — more than Volkswagen sold last year.

It was unclear how much overlap there was between the two tallies. The company said the new finding could add at least €2bn to the €6.7bn already set aside for fixes to the affected vehicles but not litigation, fines or customer compensation.

The crisis that emerged after Volkswagen admitted in September to cheating US pollution tests for years with illegal software has shaved more than one-third of the company’s stock price and led to a leadership change.

The latest revelation adds to the pressure on Volkswagen’s new chief executive officer, Matthias Mueller, who replaced Martin Winterkorn and was previously head of Porsche.

Volkswagen’s supervisory board said it will meet soon to discuss further measures and consequences.

“VW is leaving us all speechless,” said Arndt Ellinghorst, a London-based analyst with Evercore ISI.

Volkswagen’s Polo, Golf, and Passat models are affected as well as the subcompact A1 and the A3 hatchback at the Audi premium brand, a Volkswagen spokesman said. The affected models at other brands include the Skoda Octavia, the Seat Ibiza and the Seat Leon.

Emissions fallout drops Volkswagen to second https://t.co/2Q7kPoVX91 (DOD) pic.twitter.com/r6o7ajYJT8

— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) October 27, 2015

The 1.4-litre, 1.6-litre and 2-litre TDI diesel engines account for the vast majority of affected cars. The only gasoline engine is a 1.4-litre version with cylinder head shutdown, but the number of those cars “is very limited,” the spokesman said.

Most of the affected cars are in Europe and the 2bn in possible costs are an initial estimate, according to the spokesman. The carmaker will determine how much money to set aside once the probe has been finalised.

The 3.0-litre diesel motors targeted on Monday by a US Environmental Protect Agency probe aren’t part of the latest finding. The firm rejected allegations that it is cheating on diesel-emissions tests included Porsche and other high-end vehicles.

The EPA said its new probe centres on the Porsche Cayenne and VW Touareg sport utility vehicles and as well as larger saloons and the Q5 SUV from Audi.

On Tuesday, Porsche’s North American division said it would voluntarily discontinue sales of diesel-powered Cayennes from model years 2014 to 2016 until further notice.