The Wall Street Journal reports that VW will issue a set of debit cards to owners of their diesel vehicles, one they can use for dealership costs such as repairs and another that will be a cash gift affected customers can spend as they like. Audi is also working on its own similar incentive program, which will launch November 13.
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VW is engulfed in a huge pollution scandal that was initially centred on so-called defeat devices – sophisticated software fitted into diesel engines to skew the results of tests for nitrogen oxide emissions. The carmaker has admitted to fitting 11 million diesel engines worldwide with the rogue software, triggering both regulatory and criminal investigations in several countries, including Germany and the United States.
Vehicles that had been sold on promises they were greener than the average auto were in fact emitting up to 40 times the nitrous oxides allowed by law in its exhaust fumes, according to the EPA, and had been programmed to cheat on compliance tests. It was not clear whether owners would have to give up any rights to sue if they accepted the cash. Affected models are 2.0-liter turbodiesel versions of the 2009-2015 Jetta, 2009-2014 Jetta SportWagen, 2010-2015 Golf, 2015 Golf SportWagen, 2012-2015 Beetle and Beetle convertible and 2012-2015 Passat.
The paper said Volkswagen engineers tampered with tire pressure and mixed diesel with their motor oil to make them use less fuel, a deception that began in 2013 and carried on until the spring of this year.
Category: Product #: Regular price:$ (Sale ends!) Available from: Condition: Good! Part of the answer may have to do with Volkswagen’s former CEO, Martin Winterkorn, who stepped down in September. A Volkswagen spokeswoman said she was told USA vehicles aren’t included. More than 200 class-action lawsuits have been filed in the USA against VW alleging that the scandal caused the diesel cars to drop in value. The news comes on the same day that the German automaker’s engineers admitted they helped fabricate carbon-dioxide emissions data in the company’s vehicles. It will basically involve driving the vehicle on regular roads, but with a machine in the trunk hooked up to the exhaust, measuring emissions as you drive.
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Volkswagen has not confirmed details but has told the New York Times that it’s planning to make the announcement on Monday.
