Volkswagen to recall 3.2 lakh cars in India

Approximately 3.23 lakh vehicles will be recalled which will comprise of Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda model ranges, which have been installed with the “defeat device” software that will be require updating.

A meeting was held between the company executives and officials of the Department of Heavy Industries on Tuesday after the submission of report by apex automotive testing agency ARAI.

Volkswagen and the German industry have been rocked by revelations starting September 18 that the carmaker had used software to hoodwink regulators about the true emissions of its diesel cars for years.

“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”.

Volkswagen was asked to take the step after a government investigation found the fault in the cars featuring EA 189 engines.

Ambuj Sharma, additional secretary in the ministry of heavy industries, said the voluntary recall would begin this month.

“Volkswagen Group India remains fully committed to the Indian market and will not deviate from its future planned investments, product plans and launches”, the company said.

The auto maker has been found to have deployed this device to cheat on emission tests in cars sold in various countries, including the US.

The National Green Tribunal Monday sought response from the central government and the German automobile firm Volkswagen on a plea seeking a ban on manufacture and sale of its vehicles in the country for allegedly flouting emission norms. In addition, an engine software update will be performed, with both repairs taking less than two hours.

An estimated 11 million diesel vehicles are affected, including 1.2 million in the UK.

The plan is called the Audi Customer Goodwill Package, which is a copy-and-paste of VW’s “TDI Goodwill Program” launched earlier this month.

A company official reiterated previous statements that Volkswagen was working to develop repairs for the affected vehicles. The installation of the flow transformer and the software adjustment to the 1.6-litre engine is expected to take around an hour, while the 2.0-litre engine – that will receive only a software upgrade – will be serviced to make it compatible with emission norms in as little as 30 minutes.