VW seen ready to accept hardware retrofit of manipulated diesel cars

Carmaker VW will accept hardware retrofits for manipulated diesel cars that have lower exhaust levels on the test stand than on the road, Gerald Traufetter writes on Spiegel Online. According to the article, Germany’s largest carmaker is the first in the country to support hardware retrofits and is ready to pay for 80 percent of the costs for equipping manipulated cars with a nitrogen oxide (NOx) catalyser, which is estimated to cost 3,000 euros on average for each car. VW CEO Herbert Diess reportedly told transport minister Andreas Scheuer that the company is not ready to cover all costs for retrofitting or buy back manipulated cars from customers, but is ready for a “tailor-made” substitution of cars of the pollution categories Euro 4 and 5. Minister Scheuer is in talks with VW and other companies to come up with a comprehensive concept to avoid diesel driving bans in inner cities. The government’s plan on how to lower emissions from diesel cars is due to be presented on 1 October.

Read the article in German here and a Reuters article in English here.

Find background in the article Germany launches task force to kickstart shift to sustainable mobility.