Volkswagen has said that 36,000 diesel cars in Europe, not 800,000, emit more carbon dioxide than officially stated. However, this does not affect the separate accusations, mainly in the US, pertaining to another gas.

Volkswagen said on Wednesday the number of cars impacted by falsified carbon dioxide emissions reports is significantly lower than what had originally been reported.

Last month, the German automaker said an internal investigation had found inconsistencies in the fuel usage and carbon dioxide emissions from 800,000 cars in Europe. As a consequence, the company was expecting at least 2 billion euros ($2.19 billion) in costs.

Now, VW is saying it overstated the number, and that only around 36,000 cars were affected. As a result, the negative impact on the company's earnings will not be as large as once feared.

Lasting impact

In September, the company admitted to using special software in order to cheat nitrogen oxide emissions tests, tarnishing its brand name around the globe. The two issues are separate, investigations into them are not connected.

The majority of the cars thought to exceed nitrogen oxide emissions limits are part of VW's namesake brand, although subsidiaries, such as Audi, Seat and Skoda, have also been implicated.

Domestic sale numbers showed that VW sales dropped last month, although the Wolfsburg-based giant retained the largest market share.

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