Volkswagen Australia announce dieselgate recall – 83593 vehicles affected, but

Volkswagen drivers resisting the call to take their cars back to the dealer need to consider more than their car’s performance – they need to consider their own health, says the lawyer leading a proposed class action against the company.

Volkswagen Group Australia (VGA) today confirmed it would conduct a recall of vehicles fitted with the EA189 diesel engine at the centre of the “dieselgate” furore.

Following announcements from Volkswagen, Skoda and Audi in Australia that nearly 100,000 cars locally are caught up in the debacle (with pending voluntary recalls from each), a class action that was waiting in the wings has now been launched.

The class action specialist said announcing the recall was “a first step” but “there is still no information about how Volkswagen Australia intends to compensate people for what will potentially be thousands of dollars of losses (in value) for these vehicles, or for the time they’ll have to spend without access to their vehicles during the recall”.

“The first stage announced late last week involved the temporary suspension of sale of affected vehicles fitted with 1.6 or 2.0-litre EA189 diesel engines”.

“You paid for a premium for that auto on the understanding that it is a green vehicle that meets the acceptable emissions standard and has high performance, and it turns out those are mutually exclusive promises”. A further 80,000 commercial vehicles are also on the list.

Volkswagen will likely have additional tax issues connected to dieselgate also added to its headache.

“I want to assure all customers that the affected cars are technically safe and the necessary measures will be undertaken at no cost to them”, said Volkswagen Group Australia’s managing director John White.

“We understand the disappointment and frustration felt by our customers, dealers and partners in Australia and apologise for any inconvenience this may cause”.

“We will do everything we can to fix this problem and regain the trust of our customers”.

Yesterday new VW global chief, Mattias Muller, addressed workers at the company’s Wolfsburg headquarters, promising “swift and relentless clarification” of the emissions scandal.

Glad you asked: Here’s everything that’s happened so far. “And above all because we have the best automobile team anyone could wish for”, Muller stated. And it is why we will be intensifying the efficiency program.

Affected VGA diesel vehicles include the following.