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Volkswagen engineers confessed that installed the software to handle pollutant emissions data in some cars from 2008, according to an article published Sunday in the newspaper Bild am Sonntag.
Engineers, working in engine development at the company's headquarters in Wolfsburg, in northern Germany, explained that the EA189 engine, which were developing since 2005, was about to start being produced in series.
Why not find a formula that would enable them to comply at the same time the limits of pollutant emissions and cost reduction targets, turned to software to prevent a project that was of great importance for the company had to be stopped.
The engine began to be produced in series not only for the US market, but for the world.
So far investigations gave no indication that the former president of Volkswagen, Martin Winterkorn - who resigned over the scandal - was aware of the manipulations.
The newspaper assured that one of the closest collaborators of Winterkorn, Ulrich Hackenberg, is in the crosshairs of the internal investigation, suspected not only of knowing the fraud, but to have given the order for it to happen.
The handling of the emissions data in Volkswagen's diesel engines caused a scandal that could cost the German company fines of billions of euros.
(With EFE)
