The EU's top court ruled on Thursday that
Germany continually violated upper limits for nitrogen dioxide, a polluting
gas from diesel motors that causes major health problems, over several years.
German authorities will "likely" discover software rigging the level of diesel emissions in Mercedes-Benz cars other than those already sanctioned, the Daimler group warned on Friday.
Consumer representatives and car giant Volkswagen each blamed the other Friday for a breakdown in talks over a settlement for 400,000 German customers in the firm's "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal.
German car sales enjoyed a strong surge in September, official data showed Wednesday, although the rise was largely attributable to a statistical effect that had weighed on registrations
in late 2018.
The emissions cheating scandal, which on Tuesday saw three Volkswagen chiefs charged and its rival Daimler
heavily fined, has had major repercussions for the car industry since it broke
four years ago.
German prosecutors said Tuesday
they had charged Volkswagen chief executive Herbert Diess, former boss Martin
Winterkorn and supervisory board chief Hans Dieter Pötsch with "market manipulation" relating to the car giant's "dieselgate" scandal.
Former Audi chief executive Rupert
Stadler could become the first auto boss to stand trial in Germany over the
"dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal, four years and tens of billions of
euros after parent company Volkswagen first admitted to the scheme.
Prosecutors in Stuttgart said they raided German sports car maker and Volkswagen subsidiary Porsche on Tuesday on
suspicion that an auditor was bribed to pass information to the company's tax
advisor.
German prosecutors said Thursday they had fined car parts supplier Bosch €90 million over its role supplying components in the "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal.
German sports car maker and Volkswagen subsidiary Porsche will pay a €535-million fine over diesel vehicles that emitted more harmful pollutants than allowed,Stuttgart prosecutors said Tuesday.
German prosecutors said Monday they had charged former Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn, and four
other managers, over the group's "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal.
The Volkswagen group alone is responsible for around 2 percent of global carbon emissions -- roughly the same amount as Germany -- one of the car manufacturer's senior figures said in an interview on Friday.
German car giant Volkswagen on Friday reported steady operating profit and rising revenues in 2018, but said its "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal again inflicted one-off costs of €3.2 billion ($3.6 billion).
Germany top court on Friday backed Volkswagen owners' claims against the firm over cars rigged to cheat
regulatory emissions tests, in an opinion that could guide lower courts' rulings.
After years tangled in the "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal, German carmakers could suffer huge losses if the United States carries out its threat to levy tariffs on European car imports.
Some 372,000 German owners of Volkswagen cars fitted with motors that cheated emissions tests have joined a
collective legal action against the auto giant, official figures showed Thursday.
As court disputes and policy debates about diesel pollution continue, the federal government has called on German carmakers to lift their standards to improve their image and win back public confidence.
German car giant Volkswagen said Thursday it is looking for three billion euros in new savings to help fund its pivot towards electric vehicles, adding that it could not rule out job cuts.
German auto giant Volkswagen will begin rolling out its last generation of combustion engine cars in 2026, in
its latest green pledge as it looks to turn the corner on the "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal.
Efforts by courts to impose diesel driving bans are "self-destructive" and put German prosperity at risk, the transport minister warned Friday, as tempers flared in the battle against urban air pollution.
The German government will ease air pollution law so as to spare cities that only slightly exceed limits on harmful nitrogen dioxide (NO2) from diesel vehicle bans, ministers agreed Thursday, sparking sharp criticism by environmentalists.
The Cologne administrative court said Cologne must ban the dirtiest diesels from its centre and other streets from April 2019 to tackle dangerously high levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions.
Volkswagen will on Thursday get a taste of the anger felt by duped German diesel drivers when consumer groups file the country's first class-action suit over an emissions cheating scandal.
A German court released Tuesday former Audi chief executive Rupert Stadler after months in custody but he remains under suspicion in connection with parent group Volkswagen's role in
the "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal.
