State Secretary at the Federal Environment Ministry Jochen Flasbarth made the following statement concerning the manipulation of emission levels of VW vehicles in the United States, which were made known and have now been confirmed:
"We are facing a case of blatant deception of consumers and damage to the environment. I expect VW to comprehensively present how and to what extent this manipulation took place. Moreover, I see all the German car manufacturers as being obliged to explain whether the emission levels of other models are being manipulated now or have been in the past in this or a similar manner. There is no way around the fact that emissions from the diesel cars on the road must be reduced quickly and significantly. That is the only way for diesel cars to have a future in view of the pollutant emissions.
This situation shows how urgent it is to introduce new methods of measuring the emissions of harmful nitrogen oxides across Europe. In the EU, work is underway on improving the regulations. In May 2015, the "real-driving emissions" test procedure (RDE) was adopted at EU level. It specifies that emissions be measured during normal driving on the road with mobile measurement technology as part of the EU type approval of new vehicles. This ensures that the emissions are significantly reduced not only in the laboratory but also in reality. The manufacturers have a duty to reconcile mobility and health better, because low exhaust emissions are technologically possible not only in the laboratory but also on the street. For this purpose strict European RDE emission requirements should be laid down quickly term.
With RDE, Europe also has a tool to better identify potential manipulation of exhaust technology and thus to be able to prevent it. In the further development of EU emissions legislation, monitoring elements that are modelled on US procedures must also be further strengthened. We have repeatedly pushed for this in the past."