Volkswagen also lied about its gas-powered cars
Volkswagen admitted in September that it used defeat devices aimed at fooling emissions tests in 11 million of its diesel vehicles -- but now its gasoline models are implicated in the scandal as well. On Tuesday, Volkswagen reported that it understated the level of carbon dioxide emissions of about 800,000 vehicles, including gasoline-powered models. This is the first confirmation that some of Volkswagen's gasoline-run vehicles do in fact exceed carbon dioxide emissions. The company didn't provide details in today's revelation, but it said the conclusion comes after conducting internal emissions tests.
Volkswagen reported its findings after the markets in Europe closed on Tuesday. In October, Volkswagen reported a quarterly loss of $3.84 billion, its first deficit in 15 years. The scandal forced Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn to resign, though he maintained he knew nothing about the defeat devices in his company's diesel models. Other top Volkswagen employees can't claim the same ignorance: American group CEO Michael Horn said he knew of a "possible emissions non-compliance" issue in spring 2014, before the Environmental Protection Agency started looking into it. Other reports claim Volkswagen's "top circles" knew about the cars' high carbon dioxide emissions as far back as 2007.
[Image credit: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
