Dieselgate: Volkswagen Could Start Recalls In India This Month

After switching on damage control mode across the globe, Volkswagen is now reportedly set to make amends for the ‘dieselgate’ emissions scandal in India as well. It is expected to recall the 3.24 lakh affected units in the country from this month.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, the German carmaker said that the first set of technical measures has been proposed to the authorities and the company is currently awaiting approvals from Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI).

The recall was slated to kick off from the first quarter of the 2016 fiscal but the delay in approvals from ARAI has pushed it back by another few weeks. Close to two lakh cars in question bear the Volkswagen badge while 36k-plus wear Audi rings. The rest belong to Skoda’s stables.

The Volkswagen emissions scandal first surfaced in the US in September last year and the company has already embarked on course correction in The States. Recently, it had agreed a mind-boggling Rs 1 lakh crore fund to cover the majority of complaints in the country. 

This compensation could go further north as this cost is said to cover just the five lakh 2.0-litre TDI engines and not the 1.2-litre, 1.5-litre and 1.6-litre mills.

On the other side of the pond though, the Wolfsburg-based carmaker has refused to pay VW drivers the same amount of money. The company’s boss, Matthias Müller claims that “the situation is different here in Europe.”

Across the globe, around 1.1 crore vehicles are affected by the scandal that saw vehicles being fit with a software device that could ‘cheat’ on emission tests.