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Volkswagen scandal: France and Italy open investigations | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
French and Italian authorities have opened inquiries into Volkswagen over the rigging of emissions tests. | |
Italy's competition watchdog said it had received several complaints from consumer groups against the company. | |
Meanwhile, the Paris prosecutor told Reuters it was investigating suspicions of "aggravated deception". | |
Last month VW admitted that 11 million of its vehicles were fitted with devices that allowed them to cheat emissions tests. | |
Shares in VW fell 4.5% to a four-year-low on Friday, adding to a 44% plunge since the scandal began. | |
The company faces fines of up to $18bn (£11.8bn) in the US and has already put aside €6.5bn (£4.7bn) to cover the cost of the scandal. | |
"Consumers may have been misled in their purchasing decisions by the claims used by Volkswagen on emissions," Italy's competition authority said. | |
The investigation relates to cars sold between 2009 and 2015 under the VW, Audi, Seat and Skoda brands. | |
VW has said 650,000 of its vehicles in Italy were equipped with the cheat software and that it would begin to inform owners. | |
VW scandal - unanswered questions | |
Volkswagen: A brief history | |
The way we buy cars today | |
'Deeply shaken' | 'Deeply shaken' |
Separately, Swiss road authorities put a ban on the sale of new VW diesel cars, as well as imported used vehicles. | |
That follows news that UK sales of 4,000 vehicles, including Skoda, Audi and Seat brands, thought to be fitted with the cheat device, had been suspended. | |
In the United States, VW has also stopped the sale of all new diesel cars. | |
The European Consumer Organisation has written an open letter to new VW chief executive Matthias Muller, urging the company to take quick action to restore consumer trust. | |
Its director Monique Goyens wrote: "VW's actions have deeply shaken the trust of consumers in their cars, if not in an entire industry. Millions of car owners have truck-loads of questions about what this sham means for their own vehicle. We want VW to come clean and rebuild confidence with concrete steps." | Its director Monique Goyens wrote: "VW's actions have deeply shaken the trust of consumers in their cars, if not in an entire industry. Millions of car owners have truck-loads of questions about what this sham means for their own vehicle. We want VW to come clean and rebuild confidence with concrete steps." |
Earlier this week, a Volkswagen board member said that VW staff acted criminally. | |
Olaf Lies told BBC2's Newsnight: "Those people who allowed this to happen, or who made the decision to install this software - they acted criminally. They must take personal responsibility." |