MY BIZ: Volkswagen denies Geete's claim it committed a 'well thought-out crime'
Volkswagen (VW) has contested heavy industries minister Anant Geete’s charge that the German auto giant has committed a “well thought-out crime” by cheating on emission tests on Thursday, asserting that cars sold in India were not fitted with the ‘defeat device’ and did not violate Bharat Stage IV emission norms.
VW has been found to have deployed this device to cheat on emission tests in cars sold in various countries, including the US.
Volkswagen Group India said that it has presented its observations, findings and outlines of possible solutions on the EA 189 engines, which are at the centre of the emission tests cheating controversy, to the government and the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI).
Volkswagen Group chief executive officer Matthias Mueller and heavy industries minister Anant Geete
An ARAI probe had found violation on the part of the company following which VW on Monday announced recall of 3,23,700 vehicles sold in India between 2008 and 2015.
GEETE had said on Thursday that violation of emission norms was detected when on-road vehicles were tested and described it as a “well thought-out crime”.
VW had violated the emission norms in India to the extent of eight-to-nine times of current levels, he had said, adding that his ministry is referring the matter to the ministry of road, transport and highways to take action against the company.
However, VW said that the findings from evaluations undertaken by the Volkswagen Group India under observation of ARAI show that the tested cars of the brands Volkswagen, Skoda and Audi are not violating the Bharat Stage IV (BSIV) emission norms in India.
The firm also said it will continue to sell vehicles equipped with EA189 engines in India.
“All technical measures will be implemented as soon as they are available. Volkswagen Group India has intimated why it believes that its cars are not equipped with a ‘defeat device’, the company said in a statement.
The company said that it expects to start the recall process for its cars sold in India during the first quarter of the calendar year 2016.
Further meetings with the ministry of road transport and highways will take place to come to a common conclusion on this topic, VW added.
Elaborating on steps it plans to take in India, VW said that cars with 2.0-litre engines will get a software update.
In the 1.5-litre and 1.6-litre engines, a ‘flow transformer’ will be fitted in front of the air mass sensor.
“In addition, a software update will also be performed on these engines. The measure for the 1.2-litre engines will be announced shortly. The first solutions are expected to be implemented from the first quarter of 2016 and will be continued in a step-wise manner,” it said.
VW has already admitted that 11 million diesel engine cars worldwide were fitted with the software that helped in manipulating emission tests. It faces fine of up to $18 billion in the US.
Earlier, the company had announced vehicle recalls in other countries, including China.