VW examines if newer engine is involved in emissions scandal

BERLIN (Reuters) -- Volkswagen is inquiring whether automobiles using early variations of its own EA 288 diesel-engine may possibly include software that may manipulate discharges evaluation data, possibly widening a scandal which has rocked the auto-maker to millions more automobiles.
Volkswagen said last month that applications used to cheat U.S. diesel emissions tests could be in up to 1 1 million automobiles globally fitted with its older e a 189 diesel-engine.
The organization said today that it was analyzing if the application program may also be in earlier variants of the successor e a 288 diesel-engine.
That may add millions more to the amount of affected autos, mentioned Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, head of the Center of Automotive Research in the University of Duisburg-Essen.
The more automobiles including illegal computer software, the larger the prices Volkswagen could encounter for refitting millions more cars, together with for prospective regulatory fines and court cases.
"I believe it's an enormous issue," Dudenhoeffer stated, including the insufficient advice from Volkswagen made it difficult to know for certain how a lot more vehicles could be impacted. "It indicates it does not understand it is merchandise, which is a disaster."
Automobiles utilizing the current edition of the big problem's 288 engine don't possess the cheat program, Volkswagen said now. "Other generations of the e a 288 are now being analyzed," Volkswagen said in a statement, without offering additional details.
German news agency DPA noted that e a 288 variations introduced in 2012, which match Euro 5 emissions requirements may be impacted by the discharges cheat software. Afterwards EA 288 variations that match new Euro 6 requirements will not be changed, DPA noted.
Volkswagen said in its declaration there was no prohibited software assembled into automobiles with its newest e a 288 Euro 6 diesel-engine, including this were supported by Germany's KBA automotive regulator. "Other generations of the e a 288 are now being analyzed," it added, without elaborating.
Europe mainly influenced
U.S. regulators have previously stated they're inquiring Volkswagen's "era 3" automobiles in America, which include the e a 288 diesel-engine. But analysts said that will be little amount compared with all the quantity of automobiles with e a 288 engines on European streets.
Diesel automobiles account for around a half of automobile sales in Europe, compared using a tiny fraction in America.
Volkswagen has said it will remember and re-fit 8.5 million automobiles in the EU. It mentioned Wednesday that about 3 million of these would require hardware modifications -- a more expensive upgrade as opposed to software shifts required for the other afflicted automobiles.
Nearly five months after it confessed to cheating diesel emissions evaluations in the US, Volkswagen is nevertheless grappling to get to the base of a scandal that's wiped about a third off its stock marketplace worth, pressured out its longtime CEO Martin Winterkorn and rocked the international car business and German organization.
"The way this is all being released...is astounding," stated Bernstein analyst Max Warburton. "Maybe they are able to alter their marketing motto from 'Das car' to 'Das Motor: Engines therefore complex even we-don't know how they function!'" he stated.
Automotive News Europe contributed to this report
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21.10.2015
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