Volkswagen test results ‘didn’t add up’

It just didn’t add up. The Volkswagens were spewing harmful exhaust when testers drove them on the road. In the lab, they were fine. Discrepancies in the European tests on the diesel models of the VW Passat, the VW Jetta and the BMW X5 last year gave Peter Mock an idea.

Mock, European managing director of a little-known clean-air group, suggested replicating the tests in the US.

The US has higher emissions standards than the rest of the world and a history of enforcing them, so Mock and his American counterpart, John German, were sure the US versions of the vehicles would pass the emissions tests, German said.