Volkswagen Group plans to recall 3,23700 lakh vehicles across India

“The company will voluntarily recall 3.23 lakh vehicles which have been fitted with the E189 engines that are equipped with defeat device”, a senior government official said.

Together with this, if the allegations are proven true, then chances are that the German vehicle manufacturing company might face some steeper fines, but also more scrutiny from the competent authorities.

Volkswagen has proposed software updates for its rigged 1.2 and 2.0-liter engines.

Once a fix is in place for Volkswagen’s diesel engines, there are still questions about whether auto buyers will return to buy TDIs, said Alec Gutierrez, senior analyst for Kelley Blue Book.

The process of testing the diesel passenger vehicles by ARAI will begin this month and stretch over a 6-month period.

The revelations have sparked investigations in several countries but they turned out to be only the beginning as Volkswagen also admitted that it also understated carbon emissions, for 800,000 vehicles.

Volkswagen is giving its German workers almost a month off over Christmas and the New Year in the wake of an emissions scandal that has hurt sales and staff morale.

“All the owners of vehicles with EA 189 engines will be informed by Volkswagen Group India through the respective brands about the technical measures that will be implemented in their cars”.

Before issuing the notice, Chairperson questioned the petitioner how the tribunal could be seen to have jurisdiction to stop the sale of the vehicles allegedly violating emission norms. Till November end, approximately 323,700 cars of Volkswagen, Skoda and Audi in India were equipped with EA 189 diesel engines.

“Actually, we have never said that “defeat device” was found. ARAI road test found major variation in the emission level which we believed was an “indication” that they might have used defeat device”, said Ambuj Sharma, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries. While Volkswagen has developed technical fix for 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre engines, a solution for the 3-cylinder 1.2-litre diesel engine is still under development.

“The existing installed software does not affect the handling, technical safety or road worthiness of the cars”.

The recalled cars include models from Volkswagen, Skoda and Audi fitted with EA 189 diesel engines.