The news of Volkswagen hiding software in its diesel cars in order to circumvent emission legislation is well known and has been extensively covered. It's a phenomenon with far reaching consequences for the auto industry at large, and one that the caught-out Volkswagen Group is being rightfully scorned for. And it appears the criticism is going to continue for far longer, as the German weekly newspaper Bild am Sonntag is implicating the Volkswagen Group's 3.0-liter V6 diesels in the scandal.

According to the paper, US authorities (which are almost certainly the EPA, considering it's allegedly been investigating VW's V6 diesels since at least November 2015) have uncovered three "unapproved software programs" in the 3.0-liter V6 that's found under the hoods of a myriad VW Group cars, such as the Porsche Cayenne, Volkswagen Touareg and Audi A8. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the claims state this application is in place to shut down the engine's emissions control systems after approximately 22 minutes (a majority of automotive emissions test procedures last no longer than about 20 minutes). Worse still, these features weren't included in the batch that VW disclosed to the relevant authorities in 2015.

For clarification's sake, it's worth pointing out that none of this information is 100% verified, and Bild am Sonntag didn't disclose the source of the alleged new info in its original printed report. Of course, the 'there's no smoke without fire' saying could also be appropriate here, and it wouldn't be surprising in the slightest to find the EPA officially stating in the near future that the circa 85,000 cars in the United States with the implicated 3.0-liter V6 diesel engine do indeed contain emissions-test-beating software cheat devices. Get your popcorn at the ready, folks: the already edge-of-your-seat 'Dieselgate' scandal could be due another big twist soon.