GERMANY’S Volkswagen (VW) said yesterday an internal probe had found that 800,000 more vehicles showed “inconsistencies” on carbon emissions, including the first petrol engines, as the auto giant sank deeper into a massive pollution cheating scandal.

    The firm said initial estimates suggested the latest revelation could cost it 2 billion euros (US$2.2 billion), but “a reliable assessment of the scale of these irregularities is not yet possible.”

    Separately, Porsche SE, the investment company which owns 32.4 percent of VW’s capital, said yesterday’s revelations could have a “negative impact” on its own results, although it maintained its projections for 2015.

    Among the engines affected are 1.4, 1.6 and 2.0 liter motors of VW, Skoda, Audi and Seat vehicles, said a VW spokesman, adding that these cars had been found to be releasing more of greenhouse gas CO2 than previous tests had shown.

    At least one petrol engine is concerned, the company said —up to now only its diesel engines had been concerned.

    Volkswagen admitted in September that it had fitted 11 million of its diesel vehicles with devices designed to cheat official pollution tests, revelations that have sparked global outrage and investigations across the globe.

    The so-called defeat devices turn on pollution controls when cars are undergoing tests and off when they are back on the road, allowing them to spew out harmful levels of nitrogen oxide.

    The latest issue opens up another front in the scandal engulfing the company as it relates to a different type of engine and emissions.

    It also comes a day after U.S. authorities accused the carmarker of fitting the nitrogen oxide defeat devices also on its larger 3.0 liter diesel vehicles — charges VW adamantly denied. (SD-Agencies)