According to a report by Spiegel, Volkswagen has first informed federal government about extent of diesel scandal in front of its own shareholders. As a result, for first time in a crisis meeting in Wolfsburg, VW technicians pointed to worldwide extent of exhaust gas manipulations of eleven million vehicles affected on September 20, 2015. US authorities had recently reported about 482,000 rigged diesel vehicles in United States.

At crisis meeting, a possible mandatory communication was also discussed on stock exchange, Spiegel continues to report. After that, CEO Martin Winter Korn initially wanted to inform Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) about dimension of affair, but only achieved Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU). The shareholders informed VW only on 22 September.

The VW group said that mirror had fulfilled obligations for publication. " Until late evening of September 21st, 2015, foundations of possible calculations were still resilient, "says it in a letter to VW lawyers.

VW expects strong profit

The Braunschweig public Prosecutor's office is investigating VW for suspicion of market manipulation in VW diesel scandal. The authority told Mirror that it could not say anything to investigative state and to individual defendants. "However, we are assuming that we will continue to make a significant progress with our investigations next year."

Despite high costs due to diesel scandal, VW with its twelve brands expects a strong profit in full year. In first nine months of 2017, group increased its profit by more than 30 percent to 7.7 billion euros, as VW shared. The interim result for September was "very impressive", said CEO Matthias Müller. VW is "thankful" for global trust of customers in group's brands.

In third quarter, however, earnings were halved to 1.14 billion euros compared to same period last year. This is due to additional costs already announced at end of September for consequences of diesel scandal in USA. They are 2.6 billion euros, as VW has now shared. The money flows in repurchases and retrofits.

Investigation of cartel suspicion

The car manufacturer had added 2015 tampering of emission values to eleven million diesel cars in world in September. The compensation and penalties negotiated by Volkswagen now amount to a total of around 25 billion euros. According to chief financial Officer Frank Witter, 17.5 billion euros have already been flown.

The EU Commission is also currently undergoing a preliminary investigation in case of a cartel suspicion. BMW as well as Daimler and VW, toger with daughters Audi and Porsche, were to have exchanged ir cars and suppliers for years in secret circles. Such agreements are common in order to discuss standards for charging of electric cars. The question is, however, wher limits have been exceeded in this case.

The group and relevant brands have been cooperating with EU Commission for a long time, said VW in its interim report for third quarter on Friday. The authority has inspected documents in Wolfsburg and Audi in Ingolstadt. According to VW Group CEO Matthias Müller, talks with German carmakers were not about prices. Respect cartel law. "Of price agreements, for example, which would constitute a cartel offence, I have no knowledge," he said.

Date Of Update: 28 October 2017, 12:03