Volkswagen Has To Recall 323,700 Cars in India Now
Volkswagen will have to recall hundreds of thousands of cars in India for cheating emissions standards, adding to Volkswagen’s worldwide woes that the automaker illegally sold with “defeat devices” designed to cheat emissions tests, Reuters reported.
More than 323,000 Audi-, Volkswagen- and Skoda-branded cars with the automaker’s EA 189 diesel engine will need to be fixed after authorities discovered in November that those cars were illegally polluting. The revelations follow similar charges made by U.S. authorities two months ago that Volkswagen and Audi cars were polluting up to 25 times more nitrogen oxide than allowed by law.
Volkswagen officials in India said cars would be recalled immediately.
Indian authorities said they would retest diesel cars from other automakers to see how widespread cheating may be in that country.
India’s pollution standards are further behind European standards, which is gripping parts of that country in some of the worst smog and air quality problems in the world.
According to the automaker, nearly 200,000 of the affected cars are Volkswagen models, 90,000 are Skoda models and 36,500 are Audi models with 1.2-, 1.5-, 1.6- and 2-liter versions of the EA 189 engine.
Volkswagen didn’t say whether the cars in India were part of the initial 11 million estimate they announced two months ago. The company has set aside more than $8 billion to fix its illegally polluting cars.
(Image courtesy Volkswagen India)
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Given the horrible quality of the air in India, I find it difficult to believe that they even HAVE air-quality standards. (Or, if they do, they are so vague that any automaker could be said to be violating them, depending on the fickle whims of the Indian government.)
Lol what? You can't tell me a VW modern TDI is creating more environmental damage than all the tuk-tuks and 1980 design Suzuki Maruti Samurais driving around. I feel like this should be low on the priority list for India. Maybe get the country into running water and deal with your trash in rivers issues first.
Who's next? Mexico??
I've been to India twice and would be shocked if even non-conforming VAG vehicles, subject to this recall, don't actually clean the air in India.