VW later announced plans to refit 11 million cars affected.
Earlier this week it was reported that German authorities will review emissions and fuel usage of VW diesel vehicles in a second testing round once it has installed fixes.
German newspaper Die Welt said to guarantee transparency, the test results, including raw data, will be published in full.
Industry wide, new-car sales increased 13.7%, marking the 27th consecutive month of growth.
The UK market recovered, rising 3.8% after showing decline in October.
