One year on, can Volkswagen leave 'dieselgate' behind?
Frankfurt : One year ago, Volkswagen's cheating on emissions tests for millions of its diesel cars erupted into public view, leaving the mammoth carmaker battling an unprecedented crisis.
Barely a week has passed since that has not seen a fresh twist in the saga, which has tarnished Germany's proud auto industry and called the future of diesel as a whole into question.
On Friday alone, two heavyweight legal claims landed on Volkswagen's doorstep, with Blackrock -- the world's largest investment manager -- saying it would pursue legal action against the car giant for misleading shareholders, echoed by the German federal state of Hesse.
Volkswagen has sought to make amends with mass recalls and a fresh focus on building cleaner cars, but a mountain of legal complaints and ever-louder demands for compensation have made it difficult for the auto giant to turn the corner.
The scandal "has had huge effects on Volkswagen and the whole sector," said industry expert Stefan Bratzel of Germany's Center for Automotive Management.
VW built itself over decades into Europe's car champion and now sells vehicles under 12 separate brands -- from Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen to luxury brands Audi and Porsche.
The firm rakes in 200 billion euros ($225 billion) in sales each year and employs 600,000 people globally.
But the Wolfsburg-based group was rocked to its core when US regulators on September 18, 2015 accused it of deliberately skewing emissions data.
VW then publicly admitted it had installed so-called "defeat devices" in 11 million diesel-powered vehicles around the world.
The software is able to detect when cars are undergoing regulatory tests and lowers their emissions accordingly, giving them the appearance of being less polluting than they really are.
In response to the revelations, Martin Winterkorn resigned as chief executive while insisting he had known nothing of the scheme, leaving then-Porsche boss Matthias Mueller to take over the whole group.
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