Volkswagen yesterday announced it will refit all 11 million diesel cars equipped with illegal software that allowed them to defeat emissions rules, according to Reuters.
New Volkswagen AG CEO Matthias Müller said customers will be informed in the coming days that they need to have those diesel vehicles refitted. How exactly? He wouldn’t specify.
The whole operation may cost the German manufacturer more than $6.5 billion.
The emissions scandal that rocked Volkswagen last week led to the resignation of CEO Martin Winterkorn and the hiring of Müller from Porsche. The former is currently facing a number of investigations in Germany, and if found guilty of fraud, he will likely lose all of the $90 million exit bonus he was due. VW also lost more than a third of its stock in the process.
Vilified by many, Volkswagen and Audi have now agreed to relinquish the Green Car of the Year awards they won in 2009 (Jetta TDI) and 2010 (A3 TDI).
"Rescinding the Green Car of the Year awards for the VW Jetta TDI and Audi A3 TDI is unfortunate but appropriate," said Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of the Green Car Journal and CarsOfChange.com. "These models were selected as Green Car of the Year above others for compelling reasons, including high fuel efficiency, reduced carbon emissions, a fun-to-drive nature, and the ability to meet 50 state emissions requirements with advanced diesel technology."