The Environment Ministry said it had made a decision to conduct an investigation upon hearing Volkswagen in September when the company admitted that it had fitted at least 11 million cars around the world with the cheating software.
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Audi acting chairman Berthold Huber said in a statement, “We are surprised and shocked by the emissions news from the U.S. Now the causes for such grave mistakes must be found and eliminated”. Volkswagen has subsequently revealed that beyond the nitrogen oxide scam, it had also understated carbon dioxide emissions of 8,00,000 vehicles, including petrol cars.
The ministry will investigate cars using the EA288 engines which reportedly meet the emissions standards, “Euro-5” and “Euro-6”.
Apart from paying a hefty fine, Volkswagen is also asked to recall more than 120,000 vehicles which are equipped with 2,000 cc and 1,600 cc EA189 engines.
The Ministry of Environment said an investigation into several models including VW’s premium Audi brand showed vehicles used “defeat devices”.
Once the application is approved, Audi will prepare to make the revised software available for installation on its vehicles.
According to the company’s proposal to the regulators, the issue on the defeat device can be resolved simply by rolling out the revised software to its 85,000 cars.
It is still testing the current generation of four-cylinder turbo-diesel Volkswagen Group engines, codenamed EA 288, and refused to confirm whether or not the engines were clean and legally compliant, as Volkswagen insists.
The ministry launched its own test last month over whether six types of the diesel engine Volkswagen vehicles sold here met the emissions standards under outdoor and indoor driving tests.
“This wasn’t an accident, this wasn’t a mistake, the Volkswagen Group perpetuated a fraud against millions of motorists globally, nearly 100,000 of which live here in Australia”, said the spokesman for the National Roads and Motorists’ Association, Peter Khoury. Models being recalled include Volkswagen’s Tiguan and Beetle, and Audi’s A4 and Q3.
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The study of 2,565 United Kingdom motorists discovered that 56 per cent have lost trust in the figures produced by all vehicle manufacturers – not just Volkswagen – in the wake of the German carmaker’s emissions-cheating revelations.
