The scandal erupted in September when it was learned that the German automaker had fitted many of its cars with software to fool emissions tests and had put dirty vehicles on the road.
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As VW’s supervisory board met to approve the carmaker’s 2015 accounts, a German government source revealed that around 630,000 Audi, Mercedes, Opel, Porsche and Volkswagen cars are to be recalled in Europe owing to irregularities in their emission of pollutants.
The agreement-in-principle, announced April 21 by a USA court judge in San Francisco, would see Volkswagen AG give owners of the affected 2.0-litre diesel vehicles the option to have their vehicle bought back by the company; have their lease cancelled; or have their vehicle modified, reports Automotive News.
Volkswagen Group said it has now set aside 16.2 billion euros ($18.2 billion) to deal with the cost of the scandal. “Analysts at Warburg Research estimate the direct cost of fines, recalls, and settlements worldwide will reach 28.6 billion euros ($32.1 billion) – and that’s excluding any impact on sales and market share”, the Associated Press said. It said that its law firm Jones Day expects to conclude the investigation by the fourth quarter. Some 450 interviews have been consulted and 65 million documents submitted for electronic review. The company previously said it would need 6.7 billion euros to cope with the crisis.
“Volkswagen is committed to earning back the trust of its customers, dealers, regulators and the American public”, the company said in a statement. Daimler, maker of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, said Friday it is cooperating with a U.S. Department of Justice request regarding the means by which it certifies exhaust emissions figures.
Yes. Breyer said that fines and penalties also have to be negotiated.
The minister had ordered Germany’s federal motor agency to conduct tests on over 50 different German and foreign diesel vehicle models to determine whether other auto makers were cheating with software on emission levels. VW’s cars could tell when they were on the test stand and turned up the emissions controls, then turned them off in real-world driving to improve performance and mileage.
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The recall is to ensure that a legal loophole which allows manufacturers to throttle back emissions treatment systems under certain circumstances is tightened to ensure lower levels of pollution going forward, according to the government official.
