Volkswagen Sets Aside 6.5 Billion to Cover 11 Million Vehicles With Cheating Emissions Software

Volkswagen announced Tuesday that it “plans to set aside a provision of some 6.5 billion EUR ($7.3 billion) recognized in the profit and loss statement in the third quarter of the current fiscal year,” but that the final number is subject to change as the emissions scandal unravels.

The automaker has also admitted that the software, which includes a “defeat device” to hide on-road NOx emissions, has been used on 11 million vehicles sold worldwide.

The latest admission and act to mitigate the damage is another chapter in what seems to be a very long story that only came to light this past Friday. Nearly a half a million vehicles sold in the United States with four-cylinder diesel engines are affected. CARB and the EPA gave Volkswagen a chance to rectify on-road emissions issues last year by way of a voluntary recall, but the fix did not bring NOx emissions down to an acceptable level.

Volkswagen, in a statement released Tuesday, said they are “working at full speed to clarify irregularities concerning a particular software used” in the vehicles and that newer Euro 6 compliant vehicles are not affected by the “defeat device” software.

Diesel Volkswagen and Audi models were held up at port for months waiting for a Certificate of Compliance from the EPA. When the EPA held cars at port, Volkswagen admitted to using abnormal software measures and engine mapping to manipulate particulate test results.

Volkswagen and Audi have stopped the sale of the affected models in the United States and Canada.

After admitting to the emissions manipulation, Volkswagen’s stock price close to 20 percent, erasing a significant amount of value from the company. The company is also now under investigation from the U.S. Department of Justice.

In the U.S., Volkswagen could be fined up to $18 billion, or $37,500 per non-compliant vehicle sold.