Volkswagen’s USA sales plunged 25 per cent in November after it suspended sales of diesel vehicles in the wake of the cheating scandal, the embattled German automaker said Tuesday.
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The automaker will decide on the recall schedule to remove defeat devices from its cars including those manufactured by units Audi and Skoda, Ambuj Sharma, additional secretary in the Ministry of Heavy Industries, said on the phone.
“Volkswagen is working tirelessly on an approved remedy for the affected vehicles”.
“We also see weaker business prospects for the group, as VW experiences reduced profits and cash flows from lower volumes and prices, as well as substantial costs and potential fines and litigation damages”, it said in a statement.
Volkswagen sold fewer than 24,000 cars in the month of November, posting a drop of 24.7 percent, which is 7,843 fewer cars than the November 2014 sales figures of 31,725 vehicle sales.
The company had to respond to the notice issued by the ARAI by the end of November.
The investigation in India was started after the automobile manufacturer was caught fudging emission data of its diesel powered cars to bypass strict emission norms in the US.
“The violation was detected when the on-road vehicles were tested”.
“ARAI found that Volkswagen violated emission norms in India to the extent of 8-9 times of the current levels”, said Geete, adding that his ministry is referring the matter to Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) to take action against the company. The 1.5-litre and 1.6-litre diesel engines will go through certain hardware tweaks. All the concerned customers will be informed about the technical measures to be implemented in their cars by the respective brands. “The process of testing diesel passenger vehicles by ARAI will be completed in six months”. “We would like to thank our dealers and customers for their continued patience and loyalty”, said Mark McNabb, chief operating officer, Volkswagen US.
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VW has already admitted that 11 million diesel engine cars worldwide were fitted with the software that helped in manipulating emission tests. The company has submitted plans to fix the cars to the government, but those plans have not yet been publicly released.
