VW shares up as estimates of scandal-hit car numbers sink

German carmaker says just 36,000 vehicles involved, not 800,000 as at first thought

Volkswagen will seek to reassure investors by laying out a strategy to help turn around the battered group (Getty)

Scandal-hit German carmaker VW had a rare piece of good news yesterday after the number of cars found to be displaying inaccurate carbon dioxide emission turned out to be less than feared.

The company had set aside €2bn (£1.5bn) to deal with the crisis after it said 800,000 cars could have been displaying the wrong CO2 emission numbers – making them more expensive to drive for consumers.

But just 36,000 cars, or 0.5 per cent of VW’s car volumes, are affected by the issue, a VW investigation has found. Shares closed up 6.2 per cent yesterday as investors took heart from the news.

VW still faces questions about its diesel emissions, an issue which led to the resignation of chief executive Martin Winterkorn in September after cars were found to have cheated US emission tests.

That month VW was left reeling after the US Environment Protection Agency said the company had broken the law by fitting cars with special software designed to cheat nitrogen dioxide emission tests. VW later announced plans to refit 11 million cars affected by the scandal, which led to a third of the company’s value being wiped off.

The company has set aside €6.7bn to help meet the costs of the scandal, but years of lawsuits and other regulatory fines could mean the final bill runs into the tens of billions.

VW last month said it suspected fuel consumption figures for CO2 had been unlawfully changed, but its investigation found the wrong CO2 figures amounted to just a “few grams” on the 36,000 vehicles affected, leading to increased fuel usage equal to 0.1 or 0.2 litres per 100 km.

It also said it had no evidence of unlawful activity in the different emission levels.

“Against this background, the negative impact on earnings of €2bn that was originally expected has not been confirmed,” the company said.

“Whether we will have a minor economic impact, depends on the results of the re-measurement exercise.”

The results of its investigation will now be passed to German regulators to be double checked.

Today the German carmaker’s new chief executive, Matthias Müller, and chairman, Hans Dieter Pötsch, will host a session with investors, to update them on VW’s investigation into the larger nitrogen dioxide issue.

The company will also seek to reassure investors by laying out a strategy to help turn around the battered group, which is also responsible for well-known brands such as Audi, Skoda and Seat.

The event is scheduled for this morning and will be a pivotal moment for shareholders to judge how well the company will fare against the onslaught of headwinds that will be facing the group next year.

Signs of the mounting legal woes ahead were revealed on Tuesday, when 500 civil lawsuits against the company in the US were assigned to a court in California, despite VW and the Department of Justice asking for the cases to be sent to Detroit.

The company said it will “vigorously defend” the cases. Yesterday it announced new heads of procurement and development at the company. Skoda engineer Frank Welsch will become VW’s head of technical development. Ralf Brandstaetter will take over the carmakers procurement division.

Shares rose €7.70 yesterday to close at €131.75, still well below the highest level seen this year of €262.45 before the scandal broke.