There's more woe for Volkswagen today as it announced that it will have to re-do the emissions and fuel consumption figures of some of its petrol models. The German car maker, already beset by the scandal over its cheating of emissions tests in the US, has confirmed that around 800,000 cars running its 1.4-litre turbo petrol engines have had their official fuel economy figures over-estimated and their Co2 figures under-estimated. Some 1.8- and 2.0-litre engines as well as some of the diesel units will also be affected.
That is potentially a much more serious issue than the 11-million-cars-and-growing diesel emissions cheating scandal as it has the potential to hit owners right in the wallet. If the revised Co2 figures for the cars mean that they should have been in a higher motor tax band, then Volkswagen will have to pay fines, reimburse owners and pay the difference to the various governments concerned. The company confirmed that it is putting aside an extra €4-billion aside to deal with the problem. And that's on top of projected €35-billion in costs for dealing with the fallout from the diesel emissions cheating scandal. Oh, and the roughly €23-billion which has been wiped off of Volkswagen's market value thanks to investors dumping its shares.
"From the very start I have pushed hard for the relentless and comprehensive clarification of events," Volkswagen Chief Executive Matthias Mueller said in a statement. "We will stop at nothing and nobody. This is a painful process but it is our only alternative."
The discrepancy in the petrol engine figures seems to have come to light thanks to Volkswagen's experts furiously digging through the paperwork trying to find the root of the diesel scandal, so at least the company can say that it is self-reporting on this issue. It does come only days after the US Environmental Protection Agency said that it was adding the Group's 3.0-litre V6 TDI diesel engine to the list of investigations into emissions cheating.
Both Kia and Ford fell foul in the US of underestimating official emissions and consumption figures, and it cost them dearly, with compensation having to be paid to owners for the difference in the fuel economy numbers. It's yet another straw on the Volkswagen camel's back.