German automaker Volkswagen (FRA:VOW3) has been hit by yet another scandal, as the company revealed that is has found “irregularities” in carbon dioxide emissions levels, which may affect around 800,000 cars in Europe.
Following on from September’s revelations that VW had used software that could cheat nitrogen emissions tests, an internal investigation by the company into diesel emissions has revealed that CO2 emissions and fuel consumption have also been understated.
According to a spokesman, the VW, Skoda, Audi and Seat models are affected, with concerns mainly focusing on diesel cars – but some petrol ones as well.
VW has already put aside €6.7 billion to meet the cost of recalling 11m diesel vehicles worldwide – although many suspect that this figure will not be enough – and the company now estimate that another €2 billion will be needed to cover this problem too.
VW have fared fairly well since the last crisis, releasing third quarter results that were largely unaffected by the scandal. However today shares in VW dropped 8 percent in early trade, indicating that the public may be less forgiving of this further revelation. Investors wiped 3 billion euros off VW’s portfolio this morning, although some gains have been made; VW are currently trading down 5.11 percent at 101.19 pence per share.
