The list includes several drivetrain variants of the Volkswagen Tiguan, Jetta, Golf, CC, and Passat, along with the Audi A1 and numerous Skoda and Seat models.
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Volkswagen has said it hired advisory firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd and U.S. law firm Jones Day to investigate under what circumstances the company installed software into diesel cars that changed engine settings to reduce emissions whenever the vehicle was put through tests.
All the major national markets recorded sales increases in October except for the United Kingdom, where registrations fell 1.1%. VW is now beginning the brand rehabilitation process with its first U.S.ad campaign since the news broke.
New passenger auto across the 28 countries of the European Union rose in October 2.9% year on year to 1.1m vehicles, at a slower rate than September’s 9.8% increase, although the January-October accumulated gain stands at 8.2%, or 11.5m units.
The embattled automaker is desperately trying to restore its reputation after it was found to be using sophisticated “defeat device” software with its diesel cars to cheat lab-based pollution tests.
Mass-market carmaker Fiat Chrysler significantly outpaced the market with an 8 per cent upswing in sales, led by the Fiat Panda and the 500 compact cars along with the Jeep brand.
Volkswagen’s European sales decline was the company’s first since May.
Volkswagen said it was still trying to determine which older cars are affected.
However, VW’s drop in sales in October compares with a rise of 8.3 percent the previous month. The U.S. Environmental Safety Agency states Volkswagen equipped 482,000 automobiles with software program in that turned off emissions controls & enhanced performance when the automobiles weren’t being tested. “We not only face the diesel and Carbon dioxide issues, but also tense situations on world markets”, Juergen Stackmann, head of sales for the VW brand, said in a statement.
Britain is to launch an inquiry into the system used to approve vehicles, including their emissions levels, in the wake of the diesel engines scandal engulfing Volkswagen.
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Many owners are angry at the company for cheating because they paid extra for the cars to be environmentally sensitive without losing peppy acceleration. PSA Peugeot Citroen, Europe’s second-biggest auto manufacturer, sold 1.5 per cent fewer cars as declines at the Citroen and luxury DS marques more than offset a gain at the Peugeot brand.
