Government of India to Investigate All Carmakers for Violation of Emission Norms

Volkswagen will present the technical released solution to Ministry of Heavy Industries and ARAI.

The testing agency found the company using diesel engines equipped with a “defeat device” which could lead to excess nitrogen oxide emission levels in the on-road running of vehicles.

The government is also planning to ask Volkswagen to stop sales of any vehicles in the country till the recall process is complete.

The company will have to recall cars belonging to its own brand along with Skoda and Audi brands across the country that are equipped with EA 189 engines.

“Volkswagen is working tirelessly on an approved remedy”, said Mark McNabb, the chief operating officer of Volkswagen of America.

While other automakers were reporting gains in a strong market for new vehicles in November, Volkswagen said Tuesday that the impact of a widening emissions scandal caused its sales to plunge almost 25 percent during the month.

VW has admitted that 482,000 two-litre diesel vehicles in the US contained software that turned pollution controls on for government tests and off for real-world driving.

The Volkswagen recall affects cars manufactured from 2008 till end of November 2015 and include 198,500 cars from Volkswagen, 88,700 cars from Skoda, and 36,500 cars from Audi.

India also gets a 4-cylinder, 1.5-litre derivative of the 1.6-litre engine which expands the EA 189 engine range to four – 1.2-litre, 1.5-litre, 1.6-litre, and 2.0-litre displacement engines. “[The company] will not deviate from its future planned investments, product plans and launches”, the statement added. “All brands of Volkswagen Group in India will work strongly towards regaining the customer confidence and trust”. “In the next 3-6 months we will do that with all the auto manufacturers and every model”, he told ET.

Volkswagen says ending its sale of the offending diesel-powered vehicles accounted for the drop in sales, The Wall street Journal reports. While sales of its Chrysler and Dodge cars fell in November, the company’s Jeep division had a 20 percent gain.

The ARAI is a research association formed between the automotive industry and the ministry of heavy industries.

It means all such vehicles already sold will be checked to see if they are complying with emission norms.