VW claims NZ clear as scandal grows

Workers make quality control checks on a VW Jetta automobile on the production line for Volkswagen AG and Skoda AS vehicles. Photo / AP

Volkswagen shares have plunged and its chief executive is in the gun after it was revealed the car company rigged its diesel vehicles to cheat emissions tests.

But officials for VW New Zealand have reassured buyers that no vehicles in this country are effected.

Volkswagen New Zealand general manager Tom Ruddenklau said: "We take cars that are out of the EU market and those cars are not involved in this emission associated recall programme that's happening."

The US Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday that VW installed "defeat device" software on its diesel cars that meant they would activate emissions control systems for testing, but thereafter the vehicles could release nitrogen oxides at up to 40 times the permitted level. Defeat devices are illegal in Europe and the US.

Dog and Lemon Guide editor Clive Matthew-Wilson said the scandal was just the tip of the iceberg, as cheating on emission tests was common.