Volkswagen's share price has plummeted more than 20% Tuesday after the company admitted some 11 million of its diesel vehicles are implicated in the emissions scandal revealed late last week.
A report from the U.S.'s Environmental Protection Agency revealed Friday that some VW diesel cars were equipped with software designed to defeat the emissions testing process, showing lower emissions numbers than in actual road use. That report, however, implied a far lower number of cars were affected -- around 482,000. This includes the 2009-2015 Volkswagen Golf, Beetle, Jetta and Beetle, the 2014-2015 Volkswagen Passat and the 2009-2015 Audi A3.
In a statement, the German company says it's setting aside around 6.5 billion euros ($7.3 billion) to cover the fallout from the scandal that is tarnishing VW's reputation for probity and seriously undermining its share price.
BREAKING: #Volkswagen shares down 20% after profit warning issued http://t.co/neOpz8fhOt pic.twitter.com/et1L2IBx9Q— Bloomberg Business (@business) September 22, 2015
"Discrepancies relate to vehicles with Type EA 189 engines, involving some eleven million vehicles worldwide. A noticeable deviation between bench test results and actual road use was established solely for this type of engine," VW says in the statement.
Volkswagen U.S. chief Michael Horn was far more blunt that that, admitting Monday that the company "screwed up."
"Let's be clear: Our company was dishonest." Michael Horn, U.S.-Chef von VW, in New York. pic.twitter.com/FkhIt6boYf— Roland Lindner (@RolLindner) September 22, 2015
While VW's statement Tuesday does not mention any fines or penalties, the company faces a maximum of $18 billion in fines in the U.S., though its losses resulting from this scandal could be even bigger.
VW's troubles already are not confined to the U.S., though.
South Korea said Tuesday it would investigate emission levels of Volkswagen diesel vehicles in the wake of the rigging scandal in the U.S. that has heaped pressure on Winterkorn. The German government is to also conduct new emissions tests in VW's diesel cars, while France called for a wider Europe-wide investigation into Volkswagen's practices — and into those of French carmakers.
Even before Tuesday's statement, a member of Volkswagen's supervisory board suggested that heads will roll in the wake of the scandal, though he said it was too soon to start assigning blame.
Speaking on Germany's Deutschlandfunk radio, Olaf Lies cautioned against "over-hasty calls for resignations."
Lies, who is also the economy minister of the German state of Lower Saxony, which holds a 20% stake in Volkswagen, said he was sure there would be "personal consequences" once the investigation is complete.
The share price drop comes after the company experienced its largest one-day share price drop in history Monday, which wiped some $16.9 billion off of the company's market value.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press