US dieselgate arrest

Volkswagen has had a nightmare start to the Detroit motor show with news breaking that a senior company executive has been arrested on charges related to the 'dieselgate' emissions scandal.

The New York Times is reporting that Oliver Schmidt, Volkswagen Group’s chief of regulatory compliance in the USA from 2014 to March 2015, was arrested on Saturday by federal investigators in Florida.

Lawsuits filed against VW by the New York and Massachusetts state attorneys general accused Schmidt of playing an important role in VW's efforts to conceal its emissions cheating from US regulators, the paper said.

Schmidt and other VW officials repeatedly cited false technical explanations for the high emissions levels from the car-maker's vehicles, according to the state attorneys general.

Schmidt is expected to be brought before court in Detroit on Monday, the paper said.

The arrest comes as VW prepares to show off the next step in its move away from diesel to electric vehicles when it shows off the I.D. Buzz Concept in Detroit today.

But global boss VW Group boss Matthias Mueller is not in Detroit for the show, where VW's most senior exective was board member Herbert Diess.

Reuters reported in a follow-up story that VW Group declined to comment on the arrest.

VW admitted in September 2015 to installing secret software known as "defeat devices" in 475,000 US 2.0-litre diesel cars to cheat exhaust emissions tests and make them appear cleaner in testing. In reality, the vehicles emitted up to 40 times the legally allowable pollution levels.

Eleven million VW Group vehicles have been affected globally by the scandal.