Germany’s transport ministry denied on Wednesday that it had known about the technology Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) used to cheat emissions tests despite acknowledging only months ago that it knew of a general gap between ‘test’ and on-road emissions. Volkswagen has admitted used software to recognize when a car was being checked in a test center, switching the engine to economy mode and injecting chemicals to cut emissions in order to record ‘test’ results below those seen in normal driving conditions.