Earlier, California Air Resources Board (CARB) has ordered Audi, Porsche and Volkswagen to recall and fix 15,000 vehicles featuring 3.0-liter diesel engines sold in the state since 2009. The VW brand sold 490,000 vehicles worldwide in October, 5 percent below a year ago.
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Apex automotive testing agency ARAI has found that diesel cars manufactured in India by Volkswagen having E189 engine were fitted with the defeat device, which may lead to excess nitrogen oxide emission levels in on-road vehicles.
Volkswagen’s been forced to recall its TDI models in quite a few countries other than the US, but the latest recall comes from an unexpected place-India. The comment during a closed-door meeting with the government came even as heavy industries minister Anant Geete said that the violation was detected when on-road vehicles were tested and described it as “a well thought-out crime”.
The scandal has widened, with the German automaker subsequently revealing that it had understated carbon dioxide emissions, including those for gasoline engines, for up to 800,000 vehicles.
The fudging scandal began unfolding in the last week of September, when the European auto giant said it had used a software in the U.S. to provide false emission test results.
“Volkswagen Group India remains fully committed to the Indian market and will not deviate from its future planned investments, product plans and launches”.
November was the first month that the German automaker saw its US sales drop significantly since the news of vehicles equipped with emissions-cheating “defeat devices” first broke in mid-September. “That action will now be taken by MoRTH”.
In the U.S., vehicle manufacturers follow a self-certification process where no third-party approval is required in terms of homologation or independent checks.
A US judicial panel will meet in New Orleans Thursday to consider consolidating more than 350 lawsuits filed against VW in connection with the emissions scandal.
Volkswagen, in a statement Tuesday from Mark McNabb, its chief operating officer in America, said it was “working tirelessly on an approved remedy for the affected TDI vehicles”.
On Tuesday, the Mumbai-headquartered Volkswagen Group India said that approximately 323,700 cars of Volkswagen, Skoda and Audi in India are equipped with the EA 189 family of diesel engines.
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“We also see weaker business prospects for the group, as VW experiences reduced profits and cash flows from lower volumes and prices, as well as substantial costs and potential fines and litigation damages”, it said in a statement.
