VOLKSWAGEN AG BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned on Thursday against using the scandal at Volkswagen (>> Volkswagen AG) to pillory the country's entire motor industry.
Speaking in the western city of Wuppertal, she said VW must give details on its misconduct quickly and openly, adding that many jobs across the industry had to be protected.
"What happened at VW, ... is wrong and it needs to be tackled and clarified in the fastest manner possible," she said at a meeting of her Christian Democrat (CDU) party. "It can only be in everyone's interest that this business is sorted out because the jobs of many people must be secured."
Germany is Europe's biggest car manufacturer, and home to BMW and Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler, as well as VW.
Merkel promised that the CDU would stand by the industry following the scandal, in which VW admitted to cheating in U.S. emissions tests.
"Anyone who tries to pillory the entire automobile industry because of this misconduct in one area will have to deal with the CDU," she said.
Public prosecutors said they had searched premises at VW headquarters in Wolfsburg and other places on Thursday. The prosecutor's office in Braunschweig near Wolfsburg said the target of searches had been documents and data storage linked to VW's manipulations of diesel emissions.
(Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by David Stamp; Editing by Noah Barkin and Andrew Heavens)
