A small group of Volkswagen engineers began working as early as 2005 on emissions cheating software after they were unable to find a technical solution to U.S. emissions controls as the automaker pushed into the North American market, executives said Thursday.<br />The company in September admitted to have cheated on U.S. diesel emissions tests with the help of software installed in engines.<br />The software was built into 11 million cars globally, about 500,000 of which in the U.S., from 2009 to 2015.<br />It has so far confirmed to have cheated only on the U.S. tests, which are more rigorous than European ones for the polluting emission nitrogen oxide.<br />In an update on the company's investigation in the case, Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch said engineers in 2005 were unable to find a technical solution to U.S. nitrogen oxide emissions within their "timeframe and budget" and came up with the software that manipulated results when lab testing was done.
