Volkswagen says dirty diesels were sold in Europe as well

The question Torque News asked in yesterday’s headline has been quickly answered. Yes, Volkswagen cheated by selling dirty diesels in not just the U.S. market, but across Europe as well. VW purposely mislead governments of multiple countries by designing their diesel cars to cheat on emissions tests. The upshot is that the dirty diesels ran at 10 to 40 times the pollution levels of a gasoline-powered car or a properly designed diesel.

Volkswagen has discontinued the sale of diesels in the U.S. marketplace, holding 2015 models at dealerships and postponing the introduction of 2016 models. This means that the sole affordable family car with a diesel engine in the U.S. market is now the 2015 Chevy Cruze. However, the Cruze diesel’s 33 MPG combined falls short of the gasoline Toyota Corolla LE Eco’s 35 MPG combined and the gasoline Nissan Sentra FE’s 34 MPG combined. The myth of affordable diesel cars with fuel economy that can beat the best gasoline (non-hybrid) family cars has again been busted.

CNN reports that Volkswagen admitted last night that the cheating was more widespread than it indicated over the weekend. The company indicated that 10.5 million more vehicles are affected than just the 500K vehicles in the U.S. VW said, “The company is therefore in contact with the relevant authorities and the German Federal Motor Transport Authority.”

Volkswagen’s stock-market value has dropped by roughly a quarter since Friday. VW also has set aside about $7.3 billion to cover the cost of refitting the vehicles.

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