The initial notice of violation was sent by the EPA on September 18, accusing Volkswagen AG, Audi AG and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. of integrating the so-called defeat devices in 482,000 cars built with 2.0-liter diesel engines that have been marketed in the U.S. This is, so far, thought to be the largest scandal the company has gone through in its entire 78-year history. Volkswagen and Audi officials said in a meeting with the EPA that the equipment was present in models going back to 2009, the agency said.
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Despite all the problems and scandal, Volkswagen is still holding on strong in the USA with dealers reporting that they are now low in stock. Volkswagen said that it was co-operating with the regulators. Many industry experts believe that the allegation involving six cylinder diesel means that more owners would face recalls of their cars to fix the software.
The company also faces a litany of government investigations and lawsuits, including a U.S. Justice Department criminal probe. Stertz said the company wanted to reprogram the software “so that the regulators see it, understand it and approve it and feel comfortable with the way it’s performing”, AP reported.
The software is on 2009-13 diesel-powered Audi Q7 SUVs, as well as 2014 and later Audi A6, A7, A8, Q5 and Q7 models.
The disclosure widened the scandal, which had previously focused mainly on smaller-engined, mass-market cars, and raised the possibility that engineers at both the Audi and VW brands could have been involved in separate emissions schemes.
Federal authorities are also investigating the level of involvement of VW officials in the cheating scheme, the report added.
The fix for the 2-liter four-cylinder diesels in cars such as the Audi A3 and the VW Beetle, Golf, Jetta and Passat likely will include software changes and in a few models, complex and expensive modifications to the exhaust system.
“As announced, anything that is not absolutely necessary will be canceled or postponed”, he said after a regular meeting of the company’s supervisory board, according to a press release.
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That represents a decline of about $1.3 billion from 2014 and was the first time since the financial crisis of 2009 that Volkswagen has not increased investment. Volkswagen has not said how deep those cuts will be.
