VW says probe into pollution scam to take months

Embattled auto giant Volkswagen said today an investigation it has commissioned into its massive pollution cheating scandal would take several months, as Australia became the latest country to warn the company it could face huge fines.

VW, which sparked global uproar when it admitted to fitting sophisticated software in its diesel engines to skew emission testing, has hired US legal firm Jones Day to conduct an independent probe into the affair that has rocked the entire automobile sector.

The steering committee of VW's supervisory board was "of the opinion that the investigations will take several months," it said in a statement.

Given the time and personnel resources needed for the investigation, an extraordinary general meeting that was originally going to be held on November 9 is being postponed.

In addition to VW's own investigations, regulatory and legal probes are under way all over the world to pinpoint the masterminds behind the scam, which has plunged the auto group into its deepest-ever crisis and left it facing huge fines and a possible tidal wave of litigation.

The EU is seeking to decide on "coordinated action" by the end of November based on the various investigations in its member states, Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska told journalists today.

In the United States alone, VW could face up to USD 18 billion in fines.

And Australia's competition watchdog said the German carmaker could be fined AusUSD 1.1 million (USD 780,000) for each cheating device, potentially amounting to billions in costs -- although a fine of such size would be unlikely.

Sweden's finance minister Magdalena Andersson said she may send a tax bill to VW for undeclared pollution of its diesel vehicles, as cars sold in the Nordic country have a tax assessed depending on the amount of pollution they emit. Romania also warned VW of paying more taxes.

Volkswagen has admitted that up to 11 million diesel cars worldwide are fitted with devices that can switch on pollution controls when they detect the car is undergoing testing.

They then switch off the controls when the car is on the road, allowing it to spew out harmful levels of emissions.

France kicked off random testing of around a hundred diesel cars today, with officials stopping a Peugeot 208 on the highway south of Paris under the eye of Environment Minister Segolene Royal and a gaggle of journalists.