Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Michael Horn, president and chief executive of Volkswagen Group of America: "Our company was dishonest... we have totally screwed up" 
 
 Fines looming 
 
 France's Mr Sapin said inquiries in Europe had to be conducted "at a European level". VW scandal: what the emissions revelations mean Read more 
 
 The world’s second-biggest carmaker could face a fine of up to $18bn (£11.6bn), criminal charges for its executives, and legal action from customers and shareholders due to US claims it used a defeat device to falsify emissions data. French Finance Minister Michel Sapin has called for an EU inquiry, but a UK car industry spokesman said there was "no evidence" of cheating. What we are dealing with is making sure people avoid being poisoned by pollution.” 
 
 South Korea said on Tuesday it would investigate emissions of the VW Jetta and Gold models plus Audi A3 cars produced in 2014 and 2015. If problems are found, South Korea’s environment ministry said its inquiry could be expanded to all German diesel imports, which have surged in popularity in recent years in a market long dominated by local producers such as Hyundai. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Friday that VW had installed illegal software to cheat emission tests, allowing its diesel cars to produce up to 40 times more pollution than allowed. The US government ordered VW to recall 482,000 VW and Audi cars produced since 2009. Chief apologises 
 
 Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn apologised after the scandal emerged and said he would "support" the German transport ministry's investigation into the carmaker. Greg Archer, a former government adviser and head of clean vehicles at the respected Transport & Environment thinktank, said: “I am not surprised. Mr Ellinghorst explained why it was so difficult to sell diesel cars in the US: "Carmakers have to comply with 31mg NOx (nitrogen oxide) emissions per km. "Vehicles are removed from the production line randomly and must be standard production models, certified by the relevant authority - the UK body being the Vehicle Certification Agency, which is responsible to the Department for Transport." Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the industry trade body, said: “The EU operates a fundamentally different system to the US – with all European tests performed in strict conditions as required by EU law and witnessed by a government-appointed independent approval agency. "There is no evidence that manufacturers cheat the cycle," he said. “The industry acknowledges, however, that the current test method is outdated and is seeking agreement from the European commission for a new emissions test that embraces new testing technologies and is more representative of on-road conditions.” 
 
 The US allegations involve a series of diesel cars produced by VW and the brands it owns, such as Audi. The EPA found the "defeat device", the device that allowed VW cars to emit less during tests than they would while driving normally, in diesel cars including the Audi A3 and the VW Jetta, Beetle, Golf and Passat models. VW has stopped selling the relevant diesel models in the US, where diesel cars account for about a quarter of its sales.
– After rigging emissions tests to fool regulators, Volkswagen appears to have belatedly decided that honesty is the best policy. Michael Horn, the chief of the German automaker's US business, told an audience at an event in New York last night that the company had cheated, the BBC reports. "Our company was dishonest with the EPA, and the California air resources board and with all of you, and in my German words: We have totally screwed up," he said, promising that the company would "make this right" and "will pay what we have to pay." The company will face around $18 billion in fines in the US alone, and countries such as South Korea are now also investigating emissions from Volkswagen's diesel vehicles, the AP reports. Volkswagen may be punished with more than fines: Sources tell Bloomberg that the Justice Department—which recently launched a push to go after individuals as well as corporations in cases of corporate wrongdoing—is considering criminal proceedings, which could involve executives in both Germany and the US. The scandal has already wiped more than $16 billion off Volkswagen's share price and the fallout could just be beginning. Experts tell the Guardian that the use of software to cheat emissions tests could be widespread in other countries and with other manufacturers. (Some 500,000 diesel Volkswagen vehicles in the US have been recalled, and Consumer Reports has yanked its favorable ratings.)