VW dieselgate: Vehicle recall likely soon, brands yet to finalise plan

More than a week after the breaking of the emission scandal Volkswagen and its group brands are yet to decide on the next course of action in India. A source told Autocar Professional that a recall of Volkswagen cars will be made soon. However, when contacted, a Volkswagen India official said that investigations are still on to determine the impact of the scandal in the Indian market.

It is to be noted that 11 million cars may be affected by the cheating scandal. This includes 5 million Volkswagen branded cars, 2.1 million Audi vehicles and 1.2 million cars from Skoda and 700,000 from Seat (not available in India). 1.8 million VW light commercial vehicles are also part of the affected lot of vehicles. All these vehicles are fitted with the Type EA 189 diesel engines which have been found manipulation test results with the help of a 'cheat' software.

VW's group's luxury brand Audi says that investigations are on and the company will decide the next step once the investigations conclude. It is reported that the A1, A3, A4, A5, A6, TT, Q3 and Q5 models of Audi are affected by the scandal. Except for the A1 and A5, all the other models are sold in India. 

Škoda Auto, which is on a revival drive in India, says its technical development department is "working intensively" on analysing the situation and customers will be informed once the evaluation gets over. In a statement to Autocar Professional, a company spokesperson says that the issue in question "does not affect drivability or safety of our cars".  

ARAI probes VW
The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) has sought information from Volkswagen to check if emissions of its cars were manipulated in India too. A VW source confirmed receipt of the communication from ARAI. 

As various investigations are being done by the VW group, a significant recall can be expected soon as VW wants to address the situation as soon as possible to win back the trust of customers. An Autocar UK report says that VW's new boss Matthias Müller informed top VW managers that a "comprehensive" recall and refit plan has been drawn up to rectify the affected cars. Customers will be contacted "in the next few days".

The group is reported to be planning to advise technicians regarding the corrective measures to be carried out next month. The size of the recall may not be very high in India which follows Bharat Stage IV emission norms as they are less stringent than the Euro V emission norms in Europe and USA.   

More from VW Dieselgate:

- Group chalks out plan to refit cars affected by emission scandal

- Audi and Skoda cars affected

- Matthias Muller announced as new VW Group CEO

- How a university lab helped unearth the VW emissions scandal

- Winterkorn steps down as Volkswagen boss

- Motherson Sumi denies any impact from VW dieselgate

- Made-In-India cars affected?

- 11m vehicles worldwide could come under scanner