Volkswagen shares plummet again on new emission 'irregularities'

[FRANKFURT] Shares in Volkswagen plummetted at the start of trading on Wednesday after the German auto giant said that it had found "irregularities" on carbon emissions in its cars.

In early trading, VW shares slumped to an intraday low of 99.12 euros, a drop of 10.7 per cent from the closing price the day before.

At around 0830 GMT, the shares were the heaviest loser on the German blue-chip DAX 30 index and were showing a loss of 8.56 per cent at 101.50 euros.

Late Tuesday, the embattled carmaker said an internal probe had found that 800,000 more vehicles showed "inconsistencies" on carbon emissions, including the first petrol engines, as the massive pollution cheating scandal it has been engulfed in since September continued to widen.

The company said initial estimates suggested the latest revelation could cost it two billion euros (S$3.1 billion), but "a reliable assessment of the scale of these irregularities is not yet possible." Separately, Porsche SE, the investment company which owns 32.4 per cent of VW's capital, said the latest revelations could have a "negative impact" on its own results, although it maintained its projections for 2015.

Volkswagen admitted in September that it had fitted 11 million of its diesel vehicles with devices designed to cheat official pollution tests, revelations that have sparked outrage and investigations across the globe.

The so-called defeat devices turn on pollution controls when cars are undergoing tests and off when they are back on the road, allowing them to spew out harmful levels of nitrogen oxide.

The latest issue opens up another front in the scandal engulfing the company as it relates to a different type of engine and emissions.

AFP