Wednesday

29th Mar 2023

Other carmakers and EU in the hot seat on VW scandal

The emissions testing scandal has spread to the whole Volkswagen group after Spanish carmaker Seat admitted on Tuesday (29 September) that 700,000 of its cars were also equipped with electronic systems designed to cheat pollution tests.

VW's new boss, Matthias Mueller, announced, also on Tuesday, that the German group will recall up to 11 million cars "to have that contained illegal software refitted”.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The plan concerns 5 million Vokswagens, 2.1 million Audis, 1.2 million Skodas, and 1.8 million vans in addition to the 700,000 Seats.

The engines of the vehicles were fitted with software that detected controls for nitrogen oxide (NOx) and modified the engine's performance and emissions.

The people who installed the systems "acted criminally - they must take personal responsibility”, said Olaf Liess, the social-democrat economy minister of Lower-Saxony, the German region where VW is based.

Liess is also a member of the carmaker's board.

"Huge damage has been done because millions of people have lost their faith in VW”, he added, speaking to the BBC.

The scale of the scandal is now putting other carmakers under scrutiny.

A study by the environmental NGO Transport & Environment (T&E) has showed that some diesel cars use up to 50 percent more fuel on the road that in laboratory tests.

Models include the BMW 5 series, the Peugeot 308, and the Mercedes A, C, and E class cars, which "have the biggest average gap between test and real-world performance”, T&E said.

"The system of testing cars to measure fuel economy and CO2 emissions is utterly discredited”, it added.

"The gap between test results and real-world performance has become a chasm, increasing from 8 percent in 2001 to 31 percent in 2012 and 40 percent in 2014. Without action this gap will grow to nearly 50 percent by 2020”.

"Carmakers, not drivers, are the cause of the problem”.

Meanwhile, questions are also arising over the European Commission's knowledge of the flawed emissions tests.

In 2011, the Commission's Joint Research Center published a study showing that road tests revealed NOx levels 14 times above EU limits.

In 2014, a Commission expert also warned about "the possibility for 'cycle beating’,” referring to cheats in approval tests, the Wall Street Journal says.

EU authorities did not take action, however.

On Tuesday, industry commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska met with Herbert Diess, the head of Volkswagen’s passenger brand.

The Commission was not available to comment on the meeting Wednesday morning. But spokesman Ricardo Cardoso said before the talks that the Commission "expects VW to explain the situation".

"The Commission wants facts and it expects VW will collaborate fully with national authorities and expects compliance with EU rules”.

VW scandal could prompt agreement on new tests

The Volkswagen emissions testing scandal may speed up stalled EU talks on more accurate tests, as the shock waves of the scandal continue to reverberate in Europe.

Commission delays moves against VW

The Commission has postponed the decision, expected yesterday, to take legal action against Volkswagen for two weeks, writes Handelsblatt. Commissioners were so split on the issue that Commission president Romano Prodi decided to delay the decision.

EU approves 2035 phaseout of polluting cars and vans

The agreement will ban the sale of carbon-emitting cars after 2035. The EU Commission will present a proposal for e-fuels after pressure from German negotiators via a delegated act, which can still be rejected by the EU Parliament.

Opinion

Dear EU, the science is clear: burning wood for energy is bad

The EU and the bioenergy industry claim trees cut for energy will regrow, eventually removing extra CO2 from the atmosphere. But regrowth is not certain, and takes time, decades or longer. In the meantime, burning wood makes climate change worse.

Opinion

EU's new critical raw materials act could be a recipe for conflict

Solar panels, wind-turbines, electric vehicle batteries and other green technologies require minerals including aluminium, cobalt and lithium — which are mined in some of the most conflict-riven nations on earth, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, and Kazakhstan.

Latest News

  1. The overlooked 'crimes against children' ICC arrest warrant
  2. EU approves 2035 phaseout of polluting cars and vans
  3. New measures to shield the EU against money laundering
  4. What does China really want? Perhaps we could try asking
  5. Dear EU, the science is clear: burning wood for energy is bad
  6. Biden's 'democracy summit' poses questions for EU identity
  7. Finnish elections and Hungary's Nato vote in focus This WEEK
  8. EU's new critical raw materials act could be a recipe for conflict

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us