Volkswagen to Recall 11 Million Cars to Fix Cheating Software

The figure includes 508,276 Volkswagens, 393,450 Audis, 76,773 Seats, 131,569 Skodas and 79,838 commercial vehicles.

A spokesman wrote in a statement: “In a first step, the customers affected will be informed that the emissions characteristics of their vehicles will be corrected in the near future”.

It meant that vehicles emitted up to 40 times more pollutants when being driven on the road. Depending on the particular vehicle brand and model within the VW Group, the engine featured in new cars between 2008 and 2014.

VW said an internal evaluation has established that a service procedure is required for five million out of the total eleven million affected vehicles worldwide.

The recall is expected to impact 5 million Volkswagen cars and 1.8 million VW commercial vehicles, along with 2.1 million Audi cars.

Volkswagen announced on Tuesday it has prepared a “comprehensive action plan” that will inform customers about refitting their cars. Now, Volkswagen is planning to overhaul its brand to move past the scandal.

The scandal has already resulted in Europe’s biggest carmaker erasing more than $30 billion in market value as its shares plunged, the ouster last week of its chief executive officer and a huge blot on its reputation as a bastion of engineering efficiency.

Audi of America said it is now working on a plan to fix the affected models with the EPA and California Air Resources Board “as soon as possible” according to the report.

Volkswagen insisted that its vehicles are “technically safe and roadworthy”. He will be replaced by Matthias Müller, the boss of Porsche.

A few Volkswagen owners have expressed concerns about how the scandal could affect the resale price of their cars and the possibility of cars being worth less than their initial finance arrangements.

The rogue engine is VW’s type EA 189, which is in more than 11 million diesel cars with 1.6 and 2.0-litre capacities.

In the United Kingdom, amid suspicions that other auto manufacturers may also have attempted to manipulate emissions testing, the government has announced that the Vehicle Certification Agency will be re-running emissions tests on a number of vehicles.