VW caught because boffins couldn’t afford posh cars

THE Volkswagen emissions scandal was uncovered only because researchers could not afford to test more expensive cars, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The American engineers who discovered that Volkswagen used a ‘cheat device’ to pass emissions tests said they originally wanted to test Mercedes and BMW vehicles, but the cars were too pricey to rent. Instead, they used a VW Passat and a VW Jetta saloon – without knowing the cars were fitted with the device to help them pass emissions standards. A BMW X5 sport utility vehicle was also used.

The testers spent a month driving the three cars around California with specialist monitoring equipment.

The results showed the two VW models would pump out as much as 40 times the allowed levels of nitrogen oxide. When this was later corroborated by the US Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board, it sent the German car firm into near meltdown.

Daniel Carder, who led the testing team from the Centre for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions at West Virginia University, said: ‘We didn’t set out to trap Volkswagen – it was just that we could spend less money on using their cars.’

More than 11million cars are being recalled worldwide, with 1.2million of those in the UK.

VW, which yesterday said it had been forced to drop the Royal Warrant from its communications in the wake of the scandal, has set aside £4.7billion to deal with the fallout from the scandal, but analysts at Credit Suisse say it could cost it closer to £56billion.

Meanwhile, a survey found that public trust in the car industry has been badly damaged, with nearly eight in 10 people now saying they expect more manufacturers to be drawn in to the scandal.