Volkswagen in the dock as inquiry launched into emission test rigging

Volkswagen is to face a European Union inquiry into the emission test rigging scandal. The car-maker will be at the centre of a wide-ranging inquiry which could last up to a year. It will look into whether regulation of the car industry was too lax amid claims that suspicious pollution testing of diesel cars was ignored. The inquiry will also look at other alleged contraventions of European Union law and alleged “maladministration” in the application of the law. Some 45 MEPs will sit on the committee.

Firstly, it’s about private companies organising the largest industrial fraud ever. And, secondly, it’s about public authorities in member states and on the EU level not intervening despite having relevant information.

Green Party MEP Claude Turmes

In September, Volkswagen admitted it had fixed the US pollution tests that checked for health-damaging nitrogen oxide from diesel cars. It also said up to 11 million vehicles - mostly in Europe - could have been fitted with illegal “defeat devices” that could cheat the tests. Volkswagen has seen its share price drop sharply since the scandal was first revealed. After the EU inquiry was announced, chief executive Matthias Mueller named his new management team on Thursday, including the replacement for the group’s research and development chief who left earlier this month as a result of the scandal. Under the overhaul the number of top managers reporting to the CEO almost halves.

These structural changes speed up the decision-making process, reduce complexity and increase efficiency

VW chief executive Matthias Mueller

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