Volkswagen pleaded guilty on Friday to conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges in a brazen scheme to get around US pollution rules on nearly 600,000 diesel vehicles by using software to suppress emissions of nitrogen oxide during tests. VW becomes world's No 1 carmaker despite diesel emissions scandal Read moreUS regulators confronted VW about the software after West Virginia University researchers discovered differences in testing and real-world emissions. Volkswagen at first denied the use of the so-called defeat device but finally admitted it in September 2015. Summing up the scandal, assistant US attorney John Neal said it was a “calculated offense”, not a “momentary lapse of judgment”. Separately, six Volkswagen employees face US criminal charges in the scandal.

Source: The Guardian March 10, 2017 17:48 UTC