Some of the affected vehicles include Audi A1 Sportsback, Seat Leon Sport Tourer, Skoda Fabia, and Volkswagen Polo.
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Volkswagen already is offering $2,000 to current VW owners to trade in their cars for new vehicles, and the gift cards and vouchers would add $1,000 to that.
Volkswagen’s 10-month market share narrowed 0.4 percentage point to 25 per cent as the group’s 6.5 per cent sales growth in the period lagged behind the industrywide 8.2 per cent expansion.
Whistle-blower programs were successfully employed years ago by German engineering group Siemens AG and Volkswagen’s truck-making subsidiary MAN SE to help unveil incidents of corruption amid ongoing bribery probes. However, no agency has been able to prove that any “cheating” has gone on in any other vehicle manufacturer.
One of the key issues with this is that there are many countries in Europe that issue registration pricing based on Carbon dioxide emissions.
The KBA, which is now responsible for setting the new CO2-emissions and mpg ratings of the VW Group cars, seemingly has a lot of work on its plate.
The scandal led to the resignation of Martin Winterkorn, the company’s chief executive, who was replaced with the top manager of its Porsche subsidiary Matthias Mueller.
The list released so far affects 1.4, 1.6 and 2.0-litre diesel engines, with power outputs from 75bhp to 237bhp, as well as some 1.0, 1.2, 1.4, 1.8 and 2.0-litre turbocharged petrols.
Apparently, the software installed in the cars concerned turns on pollution controls during emission tests but turn them off when the auto is driven on the road, meaning that, during all these vehicles’ sojourns on the road, emissions of nitrogen oxide exceed normal and safe limits.
This was confirmed in an email to USA Today by Volkswagen spokeswoman Jeannine Ginivan, saying, “There are no stipulations”.
Cash incentives range from £400 off to £1,500 depending on which vehicle you want to buy – the VW up! city auto has the smallest discount of £400, while larger models, like the Sharan and Touareg, have £1,500 off.
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For much of September and October, Volkswagen’s estimated spending dropped down to a fraction of what it had been before the scandal with a curiously titled Jetta ad called “Things aren’t always what they appear to be” positioned in the immediate wake of the scandal. It is also not subject to the old vehicle being part exchanged.
