The AdBlue and SCR procedure is considered the best way to reduce toxic tailpipe emissions, but it is more expensive to deploy than the method VW opted for in its TDI diesel engines.
Advertisement
The board’s head, Herbert Diess, said: “We are very aware that we can only implement these innovations for the future of the Volkswagen brand effectively if we succeed with our efficiency programme and in giving our product range a new focus”.
The company also plans to turn the next version of its large Phaeton luxury sedan into an electric-only vehicle to demonstrate the company’s technological competence. The company did not give details on where it would cut investments and costs.
“The Volkswagen brand is repositioning itself for the future”, Diess said in a statement. He said that change would come “as soon as possible”.
Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) first sold a diesel vehicle in Britain equipped with software which rigged the result of emissions tests in 2008, its managing director for the country said on Monday.
VW has announced a new focus on plug-in hybrid technology as it slashes investment costs following the diesel emissions scandal.
Sources at the carmaker told Reuters last Friday that VW’s biggest division by sales and revenue would likely slump to a loss this year as it was set to shoulder the bulk of costs from the scandal, which was prompted by VW cheating on emissions tests for diesel vehicles.
Volkswagen has yet to determine the full cost of the scandal.
About 50 people who own Passat models, made at a US-based production facility in Tennessee, will file a class action lawsuit in the coming weeks in the U.S. where punitive damages are acknowledged.
A VW supervisory board committee charged with overseeing the external investigation into the emissions cheating was meeting today in Wolfsburg. The carmaker presented German authorities with a plan last week for fixing affected cars in its home market.
Advertisement
Regulators are still reviewing the proposals, which range from a software update to new parts for diesel motors.
