Volkswagen Emissions Scandal: German Automaker Plans New Sales Initiative To

In an expensive downpayment for fixing 482,000 diesel engines, Volkswagen announced a package of incentives for current owners including a $500 gift card, $500 off another VW and three years of roadside assistance.

The German automaker looks to appeal to customers and dealers following the emissions scandal.

The offer is created to reverse the tide of negative sentiment that has deluged the automaker after it admitted to purposely fitting up to 11 million vehicles worldwide with software that tricks regulators into believing the cars were compliant with emissions standards.

Speaking to the daily, Christopher Grundler, director of the office transportation and air quality at the EPA declined to describe the tests, only stating that the EPA will focus on 2015 and 2016 model year diesel cars.

Reuters says VW’s supervisory board – including CEO Matthias Müller – will meet today for the first time in roughly a month and the subject of the day will be this new massive deceit which will hamper Volkswagen Group’s image even further while generating a few huge costs in the process.

Now, after the recent probes, the ARAI (Automotive Research Association of India) has found discrepancies in the NOx emissions in Volkswagen vehicles fitted with the diesel engine in question.

Fitch ratings agency on Monday cut Volkswagen’s credit rating by two notches, saying that a widening pollution cheating scandal has exposed weak corporate governance at the German auto giant.

The scandal expanded this week when the EPA said Volkswagen had put the cheating software on about 10,000 six-cylinder diesels in the USA, including Porsche and Audi vehicles.

Affected cars that have the illegal software are Golf, Jetta, Beetle, Audi A3, and Passat sold since the 2009 model.

“There are no stipulations”, she said.

The AG of Volkswagen will announce a new sales initiative plan. As of now, there’s no indication that accepting the offer would preclude an owner from joining one of the class-action lawsuits pending against VW, but we’d recommend owners contact Volkswagen or a lawyer if they intend to pursue legal action.

The roughly 90,000 2012-14 Passats using the second-generation 2.0-liter diesel will need a software update, but it’s unclear if they will need hardware changes also.

A Volkswagen logo is displayed on the XL 1 vehicle during the media day at the Paris Mondial de l’Automobile.