In the meantime, many are still calling for Volkswagen to buy back all vehicles equipped with defeat devices to manipulate emissions figures. He didn’t comment on what affect the fixes may have on the vehicles’ acceleration and fuel economy. In a statement, the automaker said it will seek certification for the revised software. The engine was also used in the VW Touareg and Porsche Cayenne SUVs since model year 2013, Audi said.
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The disclosure widened the VW 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. The devices helped it meet stringent emission tests in the US.
VW’s flagship luxury division said it failed to properly disclose the use of three AECDs, adding one which was created to adjust the working temperature of catalytic converters was viewed as a defeat device by USA authorities.
Audi spokesman Brad Stertz on Friday conceded that VW never told regulators about the software, in violation of USA law.
The EPA is a reviewing an initial proposal for fixing the 2.0-litre diesel vehicle.
“We are speaking here of very complex occurrences, which in some cases are far in the past”, Mueller said during a speech to about 1,000 Volkswagen managers gathered Monday at the company headquarters in Wolfsburg.
Volkswagen has admitted to fitting 11 million diesel engines worldwide with sophisticated software created to skew the results of tests for nitrogen oxide emissions.
Audi is “committed to continue cooperating transparently and fully”, the statement said, with a goal of “finding quick, uncomplicated and customer-friendly solutions” to make the cars legal again.
“So we agreed to take all of the 3-liter disel engines, look at the software, recalibrate it, and then we’ll resubmit it to the agencies so they’re comfortable with how it’s performing and what it’s doing”, Stertz said.
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“The most unfortunate aspect of this news, in addition to the environmental harm, is that it slows VW’s ability to move beyond the negative headlines and start the rebuilding process”, said Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book, a car-buying website.
