Berlin - Up to 30 Volkswagen managers were involved in the embattled automaker's emissions scandal - far more than the group has claimed, according to a media report on Wednesday.
Up until now, VW said that only a small group of executives had overseen installing software in the group's diesel-powered vehicles aimed at cheating on exhaust emissions tests around the world.
Germany's Spiegel magazine said in its online edition that an investigation by the US law firm Jones Day had discovered that more than a dozen managers had been involved in the scandal.
Scandal continues
The magazine said that insiders claimed the number involved was closer to 30.
Earlier this month, VW announced Jones Day's appointment to lead an independent external inquiry into how the company's vehicles were fitted with the emissions tests defeating software.
The automaker's revelations that it had manipulated tests on up to 11 million vehicles around the world has already sparked a major shakeout in the group's management, with several top executives having been sent on leave.
The group's new chief executive, Matthias Mueller, is to report to senior managers at a meeting on Thursday in Dresden on the company's progress in clearing up the scandal, Der Spiegel said.