Although Australia has weaker anti-pollution laws, they are unlikely to be 35 times weaker than those in the U.S. – some VW cars were found to be 35 times over the limit for toxic emissions.
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As the Volkswagen diesel crisis reaches its fifth day, lawyers are lining up to find out if cars sold locally are affected.
Australia may have to bear the brunt of the ongoing global scandal surrounding the Volkswagen group as more than 50,000 Volkswagen vehicles in Australia might have been fixed with the emissions-tricking software that has thrown the automobile company into the spotlight.
The scandal, which has spread worldwide this week, escalated late on Wednesday when the company’s chief executive Martin Winterkorn announced his resignation.
The company faces fines of up to $18bn in the USA and could be hit by customer legal action, including claims made in Australia.
Volkswagen Group has admitted that as many as 11 million of its diesel cars, including popular models the VW Golf, Jetta and Audi A3, could be affected by the scandal, in which Volkswagen deliberately fitted software which would mislead emissions testers, allowing the cars to falsely pass the environmental tests.
“If it is confirmed that cars in Australia have been affected by this incident then it is likely these cars will be worth significantly less for consumers trying to sell at a later date”.
The sale of diesel cars in Australia has doubled over the past decade, putting a greater onus on a tightening of the emissions standards.
To get to the bottom of Volkswagen’s diesel-emissions cheating scandal, the Ministry has decided to carry out real-road tests, too.
In April, the then industry minister, Ian Macfarlane, said the looming closure of vehicle makers Ford and Holden in Australia provided an opportunity to introduce better emissions standards.
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“We randomly picked four different types of vehicles and sealed them after they went through customs procedures at Pyeongtaek Port in order to prevent the carmaker from tampering with the models at issue”, said the Ministry of Environment.
