GERMANY’S government laid into Volkswagen yesterday after reports that, in an echo of the nazi era, the flagship carmaker had tested its exhaust fumes on humans and monkeys.

Transport Minister Christian Schmidt had “no understanding for such tests … that do not serve science but merely PR aims,” spokesman Ingo Strater told reporters in Berlin.

He called on companies concerned to provide “immediate and detailed” responses and said a ministry commission of inquiry that was set up after the 2015 emissions scandal will hold a special meeting to examine whether there are any other cases.