German economy minister tells Volkswagen to clear up emissions allegations

BERLIN (Reuters) - German economy minister Sigmar Gabriel called on carmaker Volkswagen to fully clear up allegations that it manipulated emission readings, saying he was concerned about the reputation of the country's carmakers as a result of the 'bad incident'. "That this is a bad case, I think is clear," Gabriel told journalists after a senior German environment ministry official described the case as "blatant consumer deception". "You will understand that we are worried that the justifiably excellent reputation of the German car industry and in particular that of Volkswagen suffers," Gabriel added. The comments came after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday that Volkswagen had used software for diesel cars that deceived regulators measuring toxic emissions. (Reporting By Gernot Heller; writing by John O'Donnell; Editing by Michael Nienaber)