BERLIN: German authorities will review emissions and fuel usage of Volkswagen diesel vehicles in a second testing round once the company has installed fixes in cars caught up in a cheating scandal, a German newspaper reported on Monday.
To guarantee transparency, the test results including raw data will be published in full, Die Welt daily quoted a spokesman for Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt as saying.
Die Welt's report did not indicate when the tests would be carried out. Transport ministry officials were not immediately available for comment.
Volkswagen, Europe's largest carmaker, admitted in September it had cheated US emissions tests by installing software capable of deceiving regulators in up to 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide. The news wiped billions of euros off VW's market value and forced out its long-time CEO.
The company has said only a small group of employees was responsible for tricking US diesel emissions tests and there was no indication board members were involved in what has become the biggest business crisis in its history.
In another scandal involving the understatement of carbon dioxide emissions, Volkswagen said last week that many fewer vehicles were affected than initially feared.
After the second scandal came to light last month, Dobrindt said all current models sold under the VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat brands - with both diesel and petrol engines - would be tested for carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions.
In the medium term, Berlin wants to prevent cheating in car approval procedures by agreeing joint rules and methods in Europe. "We will work towards a standardization in Brussels," an official at the transport ministry told Die Welt.
Volkswagen has set aside 6.7 billion euros (US$7.38 billion) to help cover the costs of diesel recalls and another 2 billion euros for compensation payments related to its manipulations of carbon dioxide emission levels.
VW has said it has the approval of Germany's KBA motoring watchdog for fixes for more than 90 percent of the affected cars, including models with 1.6 litre and 2 litre engines.
In China, a local environmental group said it is suing Volkswagen over its use of software to rig emissions tests, in what state-owned media calls the first public interest lawsuit over the scandal in the German company's biggest global market.
The China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation said in a three-sentence statement on its website that it has filed a public interest suit in a court in the eastern port city of Tianjin.
State-owned China Daily reported the lawsuit today, quoting the group as saying it filed the case because VW "produced the problematic vehicles for the pursuit of higher profits and circumvented Chinese laws, which has worsened the air pollution and affected public health and rights".
Volkswagen has said it made 3.2 million vehicle deliveries in China in the first 11 months of 2015. While the rigged tests only affect 1,950 vehicles in the country, China's quality watchdog said in October it was "highly concerned" about the misleading software and would take appropriate follow-up measures.
