VW scandal: Germany says 98,000 Volkswagen petrol cars affected by CO2 issues

Around 98,000 Volkswagen petrol vehicles are caught up in VW's latest emissions scandal, Germany's transport minister has said.

That follows an admission by VW that it had found "irregularities" in carbon dioxide emissions levels that could affect 800,000 vehicles.

It came to light as a result of an internal investigation by the firm following the diesel emissions scandal.

The UK said it was "pressing VW to provide urgent clarity".

Exhausting times

On Tuesday, the company admitted that an internal investigation had revealed that carbon dioxide emissions and fuel consumption were understated during standards tests on about 800,000 cars.

VW said the issue mainly affected diesel cars.

However, on Wednesday Germany's Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt told the country's parliament:

"Today we were told that among the affected vehicles are 98,000 petrol vehicles".

Meanwhile the UK's Department for Transport said it "takes the unacceptable actions of Volkswagen extremely seriously."

"We are pressing VW to provide urgent clarity on the situation... This [CO2] development underlines the importance of the government's ongoing investigation to establish the extent to which defeat devices have been used," a spokesperson said.

VW, Skoda, Audi and Seat vehicles could be affected and the company estimates the CO2 problem could cost it about €2bn (£1.4bn).

VW had already set aside €6.7bn (£4.7bn) to meet the cost of the initial emissions scandal.

Shares suffer

News of the issue with carbon dioxide emissions sent VW shares down by 5.6% on Wednesday.

The firm's shares have lost about a third of their value since September, when the scandal first broke.

It came to light after the US Environmental Protection Agency found VW software had detected when vehicles were undergoing emissions tests, and altered the way they operated to give more favourable results.

On Monday, US authorities also alleged that VW had fitted nitrogen oxide defeat devices on 3.0 litre diesel engines used in Porsche, Audi and VW vehicles - a claim VW denied.

Porsche also denied the allegations, but its North American division announced it is discontinuing sales of Porsche Cayenne diesel sport utility vehicles until further notice.

The carmaker is recalling 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide that were fitted with the software that circumvented tests for emissions of nitrogen oxide.

That recall is for cars with variants of the EA 189 diesel engine built to the "Euro 5" emissions standard.

US recall

Meanwhile. Volkswagen is recalling 92,000 cars in the US over a mechanical problem that could affect vehicles' brakes.

The German carmaker said part of the camshaft could shear off, causing loss of vacuum in the power brakes, which could lengthen stopping distances.

Wednesday's recall includes Beetle, Golf, Jetta and Passat models from 2015 and 2016. The cars have 1.8 litre and 2 litre turbocharged petrol engines.

VW discovered the problem after getting reports of camshaft failures. A fix is expected by the end of March.