BERLIN: Previously, Volkswagen announced that it would recall 2.4 million cars in Germany alone.
In Europe, where diesel sales are now 50% of the market, Volkswagen faces the prospect of losing its position as top automaker in the world.
Almost one million diesel cars of the Volkswagen brands – VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat – have been sold in France in recent years fitted with the pollution-cheating software, according to VW’s French unit.
The massive recall in all 28 of the EU’s member states would begin in January 2016 while for countries outside the bloc, the company is still examining which vehicles were affected, VW said in a statement.
As German vehicle giant Volkswagen manages the fallout from its diesel emissions scandal, incoming chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch has reportedly said he believed the company would overcome the crisis.
The Federal Motor Transport Authority said all affected 2.0 liter diesel engine cars will be recalled in Germany, a number that could reach close to 2.5 million vehicles.
“This will be a multi-brand toolkit suitable for both passenger cars and light commercial vehicles and will thus leverage synergies from other electric vehicle projects in the Group”, detailed the company.
Europe’s biggest automaker has acknowledged it installed software dubbed “defeat devices” on diesel vehicles.
Here in the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency needs to confirm whether any fix VW proposes is effective before it can issue a recall.
All cars set to be recalled so far in Europe use the EA189 engine, which is also found in the majority of affected cars in the U.S.
Volkswagen has said up to 11 million vehicles worldwide could contain banned software that allows them to know when they are being tested and temporarily reduce toxic emissions. A spokesperson for Volkswagen France said that the group cooperated with police “with full transparency“.
VW shares have already collapsed by more than 35 per cent since the scandal broke and many countries, including India have temporarily halted the sale of VW diesel cars.
