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VW
in early November revealed that it had understated the level of
carbon dioxide emissions and fuel usage in around 800,000 cars
sold mainly in Europe.
The scandal, which will likely cost VW billions, initially
centered on software on up to 11 million diesel vehicles
worldwide that VW admitted was designed to artificially suppress
nitrogen oxide emissions in a test setting.
The Bild am Sonntag report contradicts VW's assertion, however,
that it only uncovered the false CO2 emissions labeling as part
of efforts to clear up the diesel emissions scandal, which
became public in September.
A VW spokesman declined to comment on whether VW had knowledge
already a year ago of overstated fuel efficiency.
Months after becoming aware of excessive fuel consumption,
former Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn decided this spring to
pull one model off the market where the discrepancy was
particularly pronounced, the Polo TDI BlueMotion, the paper
cited sources close to Winterkorn as saying.
The paper did not separately cite its sources for saying that
top executives knew about the fuel usage problem a year ago,
however.
VW at the time cited low sales figures as the reason for the
withdrawal. The paper said that VW did not inform Polo TDI
BlueMotion owners of the high fuel consumption, which was 18
percent above the nameplate value.
The VW spokesman reaffirmed the previously cited reason for the
withdrawal.
"The offering of the Blue Motion TDI Polo was suspended in all
markets due to subdued demand. We are currently testing all
models built from 2012 for differences in CO2 levels from the
listed values."
Winterkorn stepped down as CEO in September, following VW's
admission that it had deceived U.S. regulators about diesel-car
pollution.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger and Andreas Cremer; Editing by Hugh
Lawson)
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