VW’s use of computer software in diesel cars, which gave a false emissions reading when they were being tested by regulators, was exposed in the United States previous year.
Advertisement
The news will come as a bitter pill for UK VW-Group vehicle owners driving models that are due to be recalled over the next 12 months, especially as US Volkswagen customers are receiving payouts.
But the EPA didn’t sound as optimistic, issuing a statement Wednesday saying that talks with VW so far “have not produced an acceptable way forward”.
Willis also confirmed that VW would begin to fix the vehicles from March, and that the process should take less than an hour to complete.
In the USA, however, the affected vehicles emit up to 40 times the amount of harmful nitrogen oxide permitted by the EPA, and extensive, complicated repairs to exhaust systems will likely be required.
The scandal, which also affects up to 11 million vehicles worldwide, has led to investigations in several countries and has dealt severe blows to VW’s business, according to BBC News. Diess spoke as the company unveiled a concept of an electric-powered Microbus that could go into production in 2019.
The California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) rejection of the VW’s plan applies only to 75,688 California vehicles affected by the emissions cheating scandal.
Volkswagen’s Taiwan branch stated the planned fix would be done in stages, first “upgrading the software” installed in approximately 10,454 of the 2.0-liter models from Audi, VWPC, Skoda and VWCW.
Diess apologized for the scandal.
“We will bring a package together which satisfies our customers first and foremost and then also the regulators”, Diess said.
To be clear, the CARB statement is related to VW’s initial proposals that had not been publicly disclosed.
The U.S. Justice Department has sued Volkswagen over emissions-cheating software, potentially exposing the company to more than $20 billion in fines for violations of the federal Clean Air Act.
“Those are being handled through a separate action”, CARB said.
Advertisement
But in Britain, Mr Willis argued money is better spent on recalling and fixing cars fitted with one of the so-called defeat devices, which helped the vehicles cheat their way through official pollution tests by producing reduced emissions than in real life.
