"Volkswagen Memos Suggest Emissions Problem Was Known Earlier"

"FRANKFURT — Volkswagen internal memos and emails suggest that company executives pursued a strategy of delay and obfuscation with United States regulators after being confronted in early 2014 with evidence that VW diesel vehicles were emitting far more pollutants than allowed.

The documents, first reported on by the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag and since reviewed by The New York Times, could raise the potential penalties for Volkswagen based on laws requiring public disclosure of problems with potential to affect a company’s stock price. They suggest that top managers knew sooner than they have acknowledged that there was no way to bring tainted vehicles into compliance with air-quality rules, but led federal and California officials to believe otherwise.

The documents also raise the possibility that Martin Winterkorn, Volkswagen’s chief executive at the time, knew of possible emissions cheating by the company sooner than he has said."

Jack Ewing reports for the New York Times February 18, 2016.