Audi to spend 50 mn euros to fix diesel cars in US

Volkswagen had initially denied any cheating when first confronted about a smaller number of 3.0-liter Audi-engineered motors earlier this month.

The move affects Audi A6, A7, A8, Q5 and Q7 models (since model year 2009) and, since MY2013, the Volkswagen Touareg and Porsche Cayenne, all of which remain subject to a voluntary “stop-sale” order in the United States until further notice. German regulators are reviewing a plan presented November 16 to fix 1.6-liter diesel motors.

If the European Union agrees, it would be a huge fillip for Volkswagen, which had been speculating that the 1.6-litre cars would need costly hardware changes, including finding a place to fit an AdBlue tank.

Volkswagen is facing a scandal on three fronts: the cheating software installed in about 11 million vehicles with 1.2-, 1.6- and 2.0-liter diesel engines; irregular carbon-dioxide ratings on about 800,000 vehicles; and questionable software in 85,000 larger diesel engines targeted in the EPA’s latest probe.

“We’re driving cautiously over the coming months, but we know where we want to go and we want to ensure that the Volkswagen company comes out of the current situation strengthened”, Mueller said in a statement. “Exactly that has happened”.

The company explains the decision by saying that compensation for USA owners of the affected diesel models are more justified as they bought a auto marketed as a “clean diesel.”, and the customers were attracted by such a technology, as they mainly prefer gasoline powered engines, compared to Europe where more than half of new sold cars are diesels. According to the agencies, one of the three devices qualifies as a defeat device, she said.

The California agency said it would consult with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the process of developing a national recall plan, which the ARB said must set out a projected time to fix each vehicle, with the proposed remedy not only fixing the violation, but also addressed issues including drivability fuel efficiency of the cars involved. Specifically, this is the software for the temperature conditioning of the exhaust-gas cleaning system. If regulators conclude that the devices’ primary objective is to evade emissions tests, they’re considered a defeat device in violation of the law.

Audi agrees it will need to come up with additional measures that satisfy the regulators, Ward said. The company is cooperating with the agencies and wants to continue to have productive conversations with them, she said.

-With assistance from Chris Reiter.