Emissions scandal: Euro automakers to be checked

London, England - The British government said on Thursday (Sept 24) that new checks would be carried out in the automobile industry to ensure that a pollution test cheating scandal at Volkswagen was not repeated.

UK transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, said in a statement: "The Vehicle Certification Agency, the UK regulator, is working with vehicle manufacturers to ensure that this issue is not industry-wide."

Re-run tests

McLoughlin said: "As part of this work, they will re-run laboratory tests where necessary and compare them against real world driving emissions."

McLoughlin added that Britain's government "takes the unacceptable actions at VW extremely seriously" and was backing a Europe-wide investigation.

The scandal broke earlier in September after it emerged that VW fitted up to 11 million of its diesel cars with devices capable of fooling emissions tests.

Authorities in the US, France and South Korea have announced investigations and the company's chief executive Martin Winterkorn resigned Wednesday.

On Thursday, shares in fellow German automaker BMW fell nearly 10% at one point after the weekly Auto Bild reported that emissions from one of its diesel models were 11 times higher than EU norms.

BMW denies cheating in pollution tests.

More on VW emissions scandal:

VW emissions scandal: What does it mean for SA?
Huge VW, Audi recall: Diesel car sales stopped
UPDATE: Huge VW, Audi recall: Billions in fines
Berlin: New emission checks from German automakers