Volkswagen AG’s market share in Europe slipped to its lowest levels in six months as the German carmaker reeled under a massive emissions scandal that has affected almost 11 million of its diesel vehicles worldwide.
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The KBA said the recall, involving 2.4 million vehicles in Germany, should start at the beginning of next year and would be mandatory, meaning drivers do not get to choose whether or not to bring in their cars and vans for servicing. But out on the road, Volkswagen’s diesel cars have been spewing far more toxic emissions than regulations allow and are in violation of laws like the US Clean Air Act. According to the AP, Germany is ordering the company to recall all cars that include the emissions-cheating software across the European Union. The company expects to have a more hard time implementing the changes in the United States, owing to stricter emissions standards here, the The New York Times reported. Last week, Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller didn’t even rule out giving affected owners entirely new cars. The Volkswagen vehicles were found to contain banned software’s.
Volkswagen recalls 2.4 million diesel vehicles equipped with defeat devices under pressure from Germany.
Thursday also had Volkswagen suspending a fourth senior engineer, Falko Rudolph, and on Friday, the automaker appointed Lars-Henner Santelmann as new head of its finance division, Volkswagen Financial Services, in hopes of powering the battered brand out of this muddy trudge.
Volkswagen has two main options to reduce emissions on these diesels: a software update, or added hardware.
“We are glad to have won Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt for this responsible job and hope to profit from her competence and experience”, VW supervisory board chief Hans-Dieter Pötsch said in a statement.
The company could face up to 35 billion euros ($40 billion) in fines and legal costs in the US and Europe.
In Italy police on Thursday raided VW’s main office in Italy, as well as those of its sports vehicle subsidiary Lamborghini.
But VW also plans to intensify development of electric cars and plug-in hybrids, and will look at whether a few smaller vehicles could use petrol instead of diesel.
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Mueller said last week that the recall would begin in January and take the rest of the year to complete, angering groups such as environmental campaigners Greenpeace for taking too long.
