Because Carbon dioxide emissions represent such a large criteria when calculating a vehicle’s road tax, it was possible that owners of Euro 5-engined Volkswagens would be hit with a higher tax rate.
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The Government is liaising with other European Union countries’ approval authorities who are now conducting similar investigations.
It comes just 24 hours after the German carmarker said it would recall nearly 1.2 million vehicles – one in ten diesels on British roads – to undergo checks.
He also said: “The government expects VW to set out quickly the next steps it will take to correct the problem and support owners of these vehicles already purchased in the United Kingdom”.
“I have been pressing for action at an European Union level to improve emissions tests and will continue to do so”, McLoughlin said.
AA president Edmund King described the clarification on auto tax as “common sense”. They bought them based on the details that were available at the time.
AA president Edmund King said: “This decision will put many drivers’ minds at ease”.
Volkswagen was forced to apologise last week after it was discovered that it had developed the device in order to trick emission tests in the U.S. for a few of its diesel models. It is reported that when running normally, the cars emit up to 40 times the pollution limit.
This included a number of vehicles produced by its subsidiaries Audi, Seat, and Skoda.
Volkswagen’s share price dropped by more than 3% on Friday morning after the news of the French investigation emerged.
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The Department for Transport confirmed that the next phase of its investigation will assess whether other manufacturers have used the illegal software to cheat emissions tests.
