BRUSSELS: Volkswagen is to recall 8.5m diesel cars across the European Union in the wake of the emissions scandal.
The full extent of the work required by the manufacturer to deal with the defeat devices in its diesel vehicles became apparent on Thursday after German authorities rejected its proposals for a voluntary scheme.
Germany’s federal motor transport authority ordered a compulsory recall of all the affected 2.4m Volkswagen cars in the country, triggering the move by VW across all 28 EU member states.
It means that all 1.2m vehicles affected by the scandal in the UK will be formally recalled.
Volkswagen said it welcomed the German decision, which would “give customers clarity with regard to the continued unrestricted use of the vehicles”.
However, VW had proposed a voluntary recall of the cars, which would have meant that motorists only took their car in for repairs if they wanted to remove the defeat device. VW has told motorists their cars remain legal to drive on the basis that they passed emissions tests, even if this was only due to the defeat device.
VW has admitted that 11m diesel cars worldwide have been fitted with a defeat device that manipulated emissions tests. The company has put aside €6.5bn (£4.8bn) to meet the costs of recalling the cars but also faces the threat of fines and legal action from shareholders and customers.
US regulators say they have more questions for VW after the company’s recent disclosure of additional suspect engineering of 2016 diesel models that could help exhaust systems run cleaner during official tests.
