Volkswagen emissions recall to begin January 2016

Matthias Müller, Volkswagen Group CEO, has announced that recalls of cars containing the defeat software designed to cheat emissions tests will initiate at the beginning of next year, if German authorities approve its plans.

Once the the proposal has been validated, VW will immediately begin ordering the relevant parts from suppliers. While many cars will only a need a small software tweak, other cars will require extensive software and hardware updates, which will all be subsidised by VW.

Drivers can check if their car has been effected through the dedicated online VIN checker sites for Seat, Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda.

The proposal aims to repair all affected cars by the end of 2016 and is set to to be the largest recall in company history. These recall plans relate solely to cars sold in the European Union. Of the 488,000 diesel vehicles affected in the United States, no timeframe or action plan has been decided yet.

Further, the estimated 11 million affected cars has been recalculated and revised down to 9.5 million.

The full recall is estimated to cost up to $87 billion. As a result, Müller has halted all non-essential investments in order to release funding. The CEO said that VW needed an ‘evolution’, not a ‘revolution’ to restore consumer confidence.

Müller said: “Our most important task will be to regain lost confidence with our customers, partners, investors and the general public. The first step in this direction will be a fast and relentless examination and explanation. Only when everything comes to the table, only when things are completely explained, only then will people trust us again.

"Believe me, I too am impatient. But in this situation, in which we are dealing with four brands and many models, care is more important than speed.

"The technical solutions to the problems are in sight. By contrast, the business and financial consequences are not yet foreseeable.”

Read more