Volkswagen planning to recall 11m vehicles worldwide

VW admitted that 11 million of its diesel vehicles worldwide were fitted with defeat device software which conned testers into believing their vehicles met environmental standards.

New chief executive, Matthias Mueller, told a closed-door gathering of about 1,000 top managers at Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg headquarters late yesterday that the carmaker has drawn up a “comprehensive” refit plan for the rigged vehicles.

Customers will be informed “over the next few weeks and months” about planned steps to make sure the cars comply with air pollution regulations, the German carmaker said Tuesday in a statement.

USA lawmakers on Tuesday asked Volkswagen AG to turn over documents related to the company’s diesel emissions scandal, including records concerning the development of a software program meant to defeat regulatory emissions tests. The software would fully engage the emissions control system during laboratory testing and reduce the effectiveness of the system when the auto was operating under normal driving conditions, spewing nitrogen oxide at levels far above federal limits in the US.

Mueller was appointed CEO on Friday to replace Martin Winterkorn.

The German prosecutor’s office has said it will examine “allegations of fraud in the sale of cars with manipulated emissions data”.

The German car-maker announced that the vehicles affected in the United Kingdom are 508,276 Volkswagen cars, 393,450 Audis, 131,569 Skodas, 79,838 VW commercial vehicles and 76,773 Seats. They have been fitted in cars like the Audi A1, A3, A4, A5, A6, TT, Q3 and Q5.

In Germany, public prosecutors in the northern city of Brunswick said they had launched a criminal probe against 68-year-old Winterkorn, who resigned as VW’s CEO last week claiming he was “not aware” of having done anything wrong.

In the wake of the software emissions scandal that broke last week, Volkswagen is now planning a recall of up to 11 million vehicles worldwide, according to Reuters.

“For the USA we are still diligently working with EPA and CARB for a remedy agreed upon by all parties”, said company spokeswoman Jeannine Ginivan.

There’s now a website, vwdieselinfo.com, to keep owners of any of the affected cars, which include Audi vehicles and popular VW models like the Jetta and Passat, up to date and information about the recall is expected later this week.