Volkswagen India clarifies its position in the emissions scandal

The VW group will continue production and sale of cars in India as its cars meet BS IV norms, a meeting is to be held with the Government in this regard. However, its cars powered by the EA 189 range of engines continue to be subject to the recall and due updates will be carried out

Volkswagen India has issued a statement in regard to its voluntary recall relased yesterday in regard to the company’s global emissions scandal. The new statement intimidates to the Government of India why the company believes its cars sold in India are not equipped with a defeat device. Furthermore the statement conveys that evaluations undertaken by VW India under the observation of ARAI reveal the Volkswagen, Skoda and Audi cars sold in India do not violate Bharat Stage 4 (BS IV) emissions norms. There will be meetings between the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and VW India to come to a common conclusion on the matter.

Along these lines, VW India has announced that its cars will continue to be in production in India and will be on sale without being affected by the current situation.

That said, the recall for 3.23 lakh cars of the VW group in India is still under effect. This recall affecting the EA 189 range of diesel engines will incorporate the latest technical updates for the engines as announced by Volkswagen AG for European markets.

VW India will be implementing technical updates to these engines in accordance to the timelines presented by itself to the Indian authorities.

The diesel engines affected by the recall in India include the 1.2 litre unit in the previous generation VW Polo and Skoda Fabia, the 1.6 litre engine in the VW Vento and Skoda Rapid as well as the 2.0 litre unit doing duty in the VW Jetta, previously in the Passat, Skoda Octavia, Yeti and Superb. Audi cars affected by the recall will include the A3, A4, Q3, Q5 and A6.

Volkswagen has stated that it will carry out a software update for the 2.0 litre engine, the 1.5 litre and 1.6 litre engines will get a flow transformer mounted in front of the air mass sensor while the emissions correction solution for the 1.2 litre engine is yet to be announced. All changes carried out will be at cost of the company.

While the company claims that the recall and fix of the problem will not impact performance of the cars in anyway, it remains to be seen post the fix whether or not the fuel efficiency and performance figures of the aforementioned cars are altered considering the scale of hardware and software engine corrections required to meet emissions.

Also read our previous coverage on the matter: Volkswagen India to recall 3.23 lakh diesel cars