Volkswagen AG said an internal probe in the wake of the diesel scandal that has engulfed the company for the past six weeks showed irregularities on an additional 800,000 cars, deepening a crisis that has already cost long-time Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn his job, depressed the stock price and led to ballooning provisions.
The German carmaker said the economic risk stemming from the finding is about €2 billion ($2.2 billion), according to a release on Tuesday, citing preliminary estimates. Volkswagen, based in Wolfsburg in northern Germany, said the revelations surfaced following a "comprehensive investigation to establish whether there were indications of further irregularities" after the initial findings rocked the company in September.
"The board of management of Volkswagen AG will immediately start a dialog with the responsible authorities regarding the consequences of these findings," Volkswagen said. "This should lead to a reliable assessment of the legal, and the subsequent economic consequences of this not yet fully explained issue."
Volkswagen didn't identify the brands or types of engines affected. The announcement comes a day after U.S. authorities faulted the manufacturer for a wider-spread use of emission-cheating software than Volkswagen had previously admitted, a claim the company initially rejected. Volkswagen has already set aside €6.7 billion to cover fixes of the 11 million cars worldwide it has so far identified as containing the illegal software, and management has said the sum will not suffice to cover lawsuits, fines and compensation.
The revelation of more cars with suspicious software hits new CEO Matthias Mueller at a time when he is seeking to overcome Volkswagen's worst crisis. Mueller, who previously ran the Porsche sports car subsidiary, has pledged to overhaul the company's structure, model lineup and corporate culture, which he has said must change to create a more transparent environment that can discover possible faults.
The diesel scandal has weighed heavily on Volkswagen's earnings and stock performance, and the company reported its first quarterly loss last month in at least 15 years because of the reserves set aside to implement fixes.
The stock has lost more than a a third of its value this year, valuing Europe's largest carmaker at about €60 billion.
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