“Consequently, new vehicles of the Volkswagen Group offered within the European Union with those engines comply with legal requirements and environmental standards”, the automaker said.
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More recent models with engines in the “euro 6” emissions category aren’t affected by the scandal.
Volkswagen has been in investigations that it intentionally cheated on diesel admission tests, specifically those pertaining to nitrous-oxide emissions.
Volkswagen’s flagship brand plans to change its diesel technology in Europe and North America as well as develop new hybrid and electric vehicles in response to its emissions scandal.
Two of the “best and brightest” Volkswagen engineers who discovered that VW wouldn’t be able to deliver a clean diesel engine that would meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards are in the middle of a company probe into the installation of software created to cheat the system, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The vehicles equipped with this engine have been under a stop-sale notice in Canada since September 21 and will remain so until a resolution is found, the VW Canada spokesman said.
Volkswagen has warned that recalling and fixing all the cars carrying defeat devices could reach $7bn, but that’s just the cost of correcting the vehicle’s engine and control software. In Europe, Volkswagen makes about 40mpercent of its sales. Up to 11 million vehicles worldwide, fitted with VW’s EA 189 diesel engine, are affected by one of the largest and possibly most expensive recalls in automotive history.
While Volkswagen said this did not mean it violated any Argentine law, it did admit that it was illegal in Brazil, where the country exported thousands of vehicles. The company has said the latest models are in compliance with the European standards- Euro 6 standard. That figure is just for the recall, which could entail a software update for many cars or vehicles needing new parts.
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In addition to the costs of repairing so many vehicles, the once-respected automaker faces billions of euros (dollars) in potential fines and legal costs, aside from the incalculable fallout from lost sales and diminished customer trust.
