VW emissions scandal: Engineers admit installing devices to cheat tests

Several engineers at Volkswagen have admitted to installing devices in the company’s cars so they would cheat emission tests. However, despite the confessions, the brains behind the plot has yet to be unmasked. The engineers have made statements admitting installing the devices in 2008 in a test-rigging scam which affects 11 million diesel vehicles. They have told investigators the EA 189 engine, developed by VW in 2005, would not have complied with pollution caps and cost targets without the deception, according to German newspaper reports.

It’s hard to believe what was done there negligently and possibly even with criminal energy. But I believe that Volkswagen is a strong company that has every chance of surviving the crisis

German social democrat Martin Schulz, head of the European Parliament

Meanwhile, chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday said the emissions scandal was dramatic but would not inflict lasting damage to Germany’s reputation. She said Volkswagen would now have to provide the “necessary transparency”. The chancellor told a radio station:  "It is of course a dramatic event which is not good. But I think the reputation of German industry, the confidence in the German economy, is not so shaken that we are no longer considered a good place to do business.“

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