“Up to 9 times the EPA standard after one second”
“At exactly one second after the completion of the initial phases of the standard test procedure, the vehicle immediately changes a number of operating parameters that increase NOx emissions and indicates in the software that it is transitioning to “normal mode,” where emissions of NOx increase up to nine times the EPA standard, depending on the vehicle and type of driving conditions”, Canadian and American environmental agencies state.
Both have tested several of VW, Porsche and Audi’s luxury models, equipped with a V6 3 liter diesel engine. Included are the SUV models Touareg (VW), Cayenne (Porsche) and Q5 (Audi) and the Audi A6 Quattro, Audi A7 Quattro, Audi A8 and Audi A8L. According to EPA, the agency that revealed Audi’s environmental scandal in September, some 10,000 cars have this cheating software installing. The first mention in September talked about 11 million cars worldwide.
Volkswagen has denied all allegations, while Porsche (which has not been mentioned before in “dieselgate”) states it has taken note of the allegations and will investigate the matter.
Limited impact on sales
Car federation, Febiac, announced the registration numbers for October yesterday, the first full month after the scandal broke and it does not seem car sales have been hampered by the problems at all: car registrations grew for the fifth month in a row (+ 3.6 % to 39,474), bringing the preliminary numbers for 2015 up to 431,996 new cars, up 1.8 % compared to the first 10 months of 2014.
The Volkswagen group itself did not experience too much damage from “dieselgate”: VW sales did drop 1.85 %, leaving the top spot to Renault. Audi and Skoda did grow 14 and 7.1 % respectively, while Spanish subsidiary Seat is still getting pounded. It dropped 32 % while it had already dropped 17.3 % last month.
Analysts point out these numbers refer to registrations and because Belgian customers mostly order their car in advance, there is a time gap between the purchase and the registration. It remains to be seen how dieselgate will influence next months’ numbers, something VW and car importer D’Ieteren will probably be reluctant to face.
