I will keep this brief.

Here you will find a BBC News page on a recent comment by Volkswagen on the faulty emissions control in their diesel vehicles. Besides implying that the problem only existed in the United States, you will find these quotes in the above-referenced page:

The company said the problem began when it decided to launch a large-scale promotion of diesel vehicles in the US in 2005, but found it impossible to meet strict emissions limits in force in that country in time.

Mr Mueller said it was relatively simple and inexpensive to fix the millions of affected cars, but this had not been possible before, as the technology for the fixes was not available when the cars were built.

In any case, the company was unaware at the time that there was a problem.
I submit that these statements are contradictory. One cannot find something impossible without being aware that that something has a problem.

Those waiting for the dumb questions can relax; here they are.

Are we dumb enough to believe that

• Volkswagen could not do emissions properly, but only in the USA? (There have been noises of recalls in a Lot of countries, eh?)
• Improper emissions-emitting vehicles were sold, but it wasn’t a problem?

and finally,

• Will this tactic allow VW to somehow magically reduce the cost of correcting a huge number of emitting vehicles, and the likely fines?
• Are the lobbyists busy right now, working on this?

I said, as always, that they are dumb questions.