Volkswagen Claims CO2 Emissions Lies Were Merely Fibs

A month after questions arose regarding how Volkswagen measured CO2 and fuel consumption in their cars, the troubled automaker says all is well.

Per VW’s PR machine, the automaker found “no unlawful change to the stated fuel consumption and CO2 figures” in the majority of its European lineup, with only nine vehicles for the 2016 model year having slight variations in conflict with their originally stated fuel consumption and CO2 stats.

The nine vehicles found out of step?

• Polo: 1.0L TSI BlueMotion 70kW EU6, seven-speed (DSG)
• Scirocco: 2.0L TDI BMT 135kW EU6, six-speed manual gearbox
• Jetta: 1.2L TSI BMT 77kW EU6, six-speed manual gearbox
• Jetta: 2.0L TDI BMT 81kW EU6, five-speed manual gearbox
• Golf Convertible: 2.0L TDI BMT 81kW EU6, five-speed manual gearbox
• Golf 2.0L TDI BMT 110kW EU6, six-speed manual gearbox
• Passat Alltrack: 2.0L TSI 4MOTION BMT 162kW EU6, seven-speed (DSG)
• Passat Variant: 2.0L TDI SCR 4MOTION BMT 176kW EU6, seven-speed (DSG)
• Passat Variant: 1.4L TSI ACT 4MOTION BMT 110kW EU6, Lix-speed manual gearbox

The above nine will be re-evaluated via a “neutral technical service under the supervision of the appropriate authority by Christmas.” Vehicles whose originally stated fuel consumption and CO2 figures remain true can be sold with no worries, while those needing adjustments to stated measurements will see those changes occur down the road through the “course of the normal processes as required.”

Though Volkswagen Group AG originally stated as many as 800,000 vehicles were on-notice about their fuel consumption and CO2 output, the parent company was unable to confirm its suspicion. The nine model variants with problems account for only 36,000 — 0.5 percent — of the total volume produced by the VW brand annually.

The findings were presented to Germany’s government and its Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). Audi, Skoda and Seat are undergoing similar internal investigations into their own lineups for possible deviations from the stated norm.