VW emissions scandal ‘affects 1.2m cars in the UK’

The vehicles contain the EA 189 engines which are fitted with software that was used to con emissions testers in the US. Nearly 200,000 Audi brand cars with the same motor will also be recalled with the rest being Seat and Skoda cars and a small number of Volkswagen commercial vehicles.

VW has said owners of the affected cars would be notified “in the next weeks and months”, adding that “all the brands concerned are going to create Internet pages where clients will be able to follow developments”.

Volkswagen said it would inform customers how to get their vehicles “corrected in the near future”. The city’s air quality is below national standards, and the county attorney said the Volkswagen vehicles that skirted emission regulations set back Houston’s clean-up efforts.

The letter said the fitting of defeat devices in VW vehicles “undoubtedly amounts to a misrepresentation and a breach of contract” and demanded a meeting with the company’s bosses.

The automaker’s Audi brand posted a 16% increase, indicating that the luxury lineup may be maintaining its momentum even though one of its vehicles, the diesel A3, was involved in the scandal. It is reported that when running normally, the cars emit up to 40 times the pollution limit. Of the 2.1 million Audis with the rogue software, more than half were sold in Western Europe.

“We would like to thank dealers and customers for the support of the Volkswagen brand”, said Mark McNabb, chief operating officer, Volkswagen of America.

Mueller had assisted former CEO Martin Winterkorn in planning a reorganization to give Volkswagen’s brands and regional units more say in operations, and persuaded the supervisory board to keep the project on its agenda that day, according to a person familiar with Mueller’s thinking.

On Monday, Switzerland’s federal roads office announced that around 130,000 diesel engine cars produced by the German automobile giant between 2009 and 2014 “could be concerned” by the scandal involving the rigging of emissions tests.

The decision was taken to enable the firm to “resolve the current issue with the vehicles”, the spokesman said. And drivers who own VW diesel cars aren’t happy.

“We also want the rest of the auto industry to swiftly set out whether their tests have been manipulated and if their customers have been misled”. One would expect VW to fix the diesel vehicles but what is surprising is that VW plans to begin the recall process “in the next few days”.

The charity’s chief executive, Dr Penny Woods, said: ” It is clear there is a dire need for a commitment to routine, independent real-world testing on all cars.