Volkswagen chiefs ‘knew about emissions issue year ago’

Volkswagen’s top executives knew a year ago that some of the company’s cars were markedly less fuel efficient than had been officially stated, German paper Bild am Sonntag reported yesterday.

VW in early November revealed that it had understated the level of carbon dioxide emissions and fuel usage in around 800,000 cars sold mainly in Europe.

The scandal, which will likely cost VW billions, initially centred on software on up to 11m diesel vehicles worldwide that VW admitted was designed to artificially suppress nitrogen oxide emissions in a test setting.

The Bild am Sonntag report contradicts VW’s assertion, however, that it only uncovered the false CO2 emissions labeling as part of efforts to clear up the diesel emissions scandal, which became public in September.

A VW spokesman declined to comment on whether VW had knowledge already a year ago of overstated fuel efficiency.

Months after becoming aware of excessive fuel consumption, former chief executive Martin Winterkorn decided this spring to pull one model off the market where the discrepancy was particularly pronounced, the Polo TDI BlueMotion, the paper cited sources close to Winterkorn as saying.

It did not separately cite its sources for saying that top executives knew about the fuel usage problem a year ago, however.