Portugal's Economy Minister, António Pires de Lima, said today that Volkswagen cars produced at Portugal’s Autoeuropa factory did not incorporate the special software package that fiddles engine performance when tested for emissions.
Pires de Lima said he already has spoken with management at Autoeuropa and can assure everyone that the "vehicles produced in Portugal in recent years, do not have the special fraudulent kit incorporated. I have every reason to believe Autoeuropa."
The German manufacturer already has admitted that 11 million of its diesel powered cars worldwide have been equipped with software that is able illegally to manipulate pollution test data.
"The scale of this fraud has been made public, it is of a dimension that could not have been imagined" said Pires de Lima.
In the face of a rapidly falling share price and a reputation that may never recover, Volkswagen already has lost its worldwide chairman Dr Martin Winterkorn and governments that host VW manufacturing bases have been seeking assurances from the Germans that local jobs will not be at risk.
"Volkswagen employs thousands of people in Portugal," said Pires de Lima, noting that the investment agreement between the government, Autoeuropa and Volkswagen is a current one and that he did not see any reason to create unrest in relation to this project which is "very important for Portugal."
Pires de Lima said that Volkswagen will be giving some explanations as to what has been going on but in the meantime the Government is working with the Institute for Mobility and Transport to carry out necessary checks "to see if there are any implications for Portugal."
