The first all-new Volkswagen diesel car to go on sale since the emissions cheating scandal broke has not been tested in real-world driving conditions to check its tailpipe is clean.
This is despite the fact the new diesel engine is, according to Volkswagen documents, "based on" the one at the centre of the controversy.
The German car giant says the new Volkswagen Tiguan SUV does not have any hidden software to sidestep emissions regulations -- even though the vehicle was already in the final stages of development as years of secrecy within the company was being exposed.
The new Volkswagen Tiguan SUV, due in Australian showrooms in September, is the company's first all-new model with a diesel engine since it was forced to recall 11 million cars globally -- including almost 100,000 in Australia -- because they belch out up to 35 times more toxic emissions than what is allowed.
While US customers have already been compensated with cheques for $1000 "as an initial goodwill gesture", owners in the UK, Australia and other countries are awaiting the outcomes of Class Action court cases.
However, Australian owners of the recalled Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda diesel cars may not be entitled to any compensation.
Attention is focused on Volkswagen because it got caught cheating not once but twice.
In an interview with Australian media in Berlin overnight, one of only two Volkswagen executives authorised to comment on the diesel scandal, Christian Buhlmann, said: "Emission laws in America allow for about one-sixth of the emissions that are allowed in the European Union and those countries which have tied their regulations to the European Union, which is also Australia to my knowledge".
"So therefore we will be able to roll out our remedies in those markets very soon, whereas in America there is not a remedy fix yet," said Mr Buhlmann.
In Australia, Volkswagen has begun recall work on the Amarok ute; other diesel models are due to be fixed later this year.
The spokesman said Volkswagen was aiming to ensure that any recall work would not affect diesel engine power, performance or economy.
Volkswagen says the new Tiguan has passed the German government's static laboratory test, in part because the new EA288 diesel engine which is "based on" the EA189 motor at the centre of the scandal now uses an additive called "AdBlue" to clean its emissions.
But the spokesman confirmed the company has not tested the new Tiguan in the same real-world driving conditions that exposed the cheating software in older models.
Attention is focused on Volkswagen because it got caught cheating not once but twice.
When US authorities approached Volkswagen the first time about irregularities discovered after real-world driving tests by West Virginia University in 2014, the car maker said there must have been some mistake and recalled 500,000 vehicles.
Once cars with cheating software were being driven in the real-world, the anti-pollution gear was disabled.
Months later, when the US environment agency retested Volkswagen cars that had supposedly been fixed, those vehicles also blew the meters.
It wasn't until US authorities threatened to halt sales of all future Volkswagen diesel cars did the German company finally come clean on what it had done.
Mr Buhlmann said customers -- and the 600,000 people who work at Volkswagen -- were "betrayed" by the engineers who decided to create the cheating software to pass emissions tests.
"I've been promoting diesel for many years and, with the knowledge that I have nowadays, I know that in the past I said things I shouldn't have … but I didn't have (the knowledge) back then," said Mr Buhlmann.
"What we can do is make up for what has been done wrong in the past and make better cars … and find remedies for 11 million cars."
An emissions testing expert, speaking to News Corp Australia under condition of anonymity in September 2015, said Volkswagen most likely created the cheat mode to stop the build up of engine and exhaust gunk, and therefore reduce servicing costs.
Ingeniously, Volkswagen created software that knew when the car was being tested in laboratory conditions, due to ambient temperature, the type of driving and the fact that only the two front driving wheels were moving, because cars are always tested static in laboratory conditions.
Once cars with cheating software were being driven in the real-world, the anti-pollution gear was disabled, pumping deadly toxins directly out the exhaust.
The emissions rose dramatically on the highway versus the lab.
"The cars are tested on a rolling road dynometer, so the front wheels are spinning and the back wheels are not, and the steering wheel isn't moving," said the emissions tester.
"Then you have to accelerate to 50km/h within seven seconds to simulate the start of a city drive, and the test must be conducted between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius.
"If the car senses that, and it can with all the sensors it has on board these days, it would know it is doing an emissions test."
In May 2014, clean air campaigners went to the trouble of attaching bulky testing equipment to the back of a Volkswagen and measured its emissions during a long road test.
The testers were shocked to find the emissions rose dramatically on the highway versus the lab.
Thinking there was a fault with the car, they retested the same vehicle in a lab and the car passed the emissions regulations.
The testers passed on their findings -- and their suspicions -- to the US Environmental Protection Agency, who took the case from there.
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