Volkswagen understated carbon dioxide emissions on many fewer vehicles than initially feared, it said today.
The news will provide some relief to the car maker as it battles a wider diesel emissions scandal affecting up to 11 million cars.
Europe's biggest motor manufacturer said its investigations found it had understated fuel consumption, and so carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, on only about 36,000 vehicles.
This compared with its preliminary estimate of around 800,000.
It also said it had found no evidence of unlawful changing of CO2 emissions data.
VW's update came as its supervisory board was meeting to discuss progress with the investigations it launched in September after admitting to cheating diesel emissions tests in the US.
It said two months later it had also understated CO2 emissions on both diesel and petrol vehicles.
The company's chief executive Matthias Mueller and chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch will publish intermediate results from the inquiries tomorrow morning.
They will not reveal names of those responsible, but may explain why the company failed to find the wrongdoing, two people familiar with the matter said.
While understating CO2 emissions was the smaller of the two scandals engulfing VW, some analysts had said it could have a bigger impact on sales, arguing drivers might be more worried about fuel economy than pollution.
Industry data last week showed sales of VW-brand vehicles in Britain plunged 20% in November compared with the same month the year before, following a similar drop in the US. However, the brand remained the most popular new car sold in Ireland last month, recent CSO figures show.
VW's update also raised fresh questions about its handling of its scandals, which have wiped almost a fifth off the value of its preference shares, forced out its long-time CEO and driven it to its first quarterly loss in at least 15 years.
The company said its initial estimate of vehicles with misleading CO2 emissions data was a "worst case scenario" which had not come true.
In November, VW listed 130 models from group brands including Audi and Skoda as being affected.
It said today its most recent measurements showed only nine VW-badged models with higher than stated CO2 levels.
Emissions of those models, including the 2.0 litre TDI Golf hatchback and the 2.0 litre TDI Passat, deviated on average by "a few grammes" from what had been declared, corresponding to 0.1-0.2 litres of extra fuel usage per 100 kilometers, it said.
VW has set aside around €6.7 billion to help meet the costs of its diesel emissions scandal, but analysts think the final bill could run into tens of billions of euros to cover regulatory fines, lawsuits and vehicle refits.
