According to Reuters, Volkswagen’s freshly appointed CEO Matthias Müller has announced a “comprehensive recall and refit plan” to fix all 11 million TDI diesel cars caught cheating on emissions.
Müller made the announcement at a meeting late yesterday evening, no doubt pushed by a deadline from the German Federal Motor Transport Authority that gave Volkswagen until October 7 to come up with a solution.
Reuters reports “the carmaker would ask customers in the next few days to have diesel vehicles that contained illegal software refitted.” The exact details of the recall were not specified, but analysts say the move could cost VW as much as $6.5 billion.
This news comes just two days after VW’s official statement regarding the 488,123 American TDI’s equipped with the Type EA189 engine:
Volkswagen is committed to finding a remedy as soon as possible. We want to assure customers and owners of these models that their automobiles are safe to drive, and we are working to develop a remedy that will meet the expectations of the government agencies.
Owners of these vehicles do not need to take any action at this time. Once we have information regarding a remedy, consumers will be notified.
While explaining the plan in front of a thousand top VW managers, Müller also said:
We are facing a long trudge and a lot of hard work, and will only be able to make progress in steps, and there will be setbacks.
The list of guilty VW products includes about 2 million Audis (of which only 13,000 made it to United States), 5 million Volkswagens (488,123 in America), 1.2 million Skodas, 700,000 Seats and about 1.8 million light commercial vehicles.
Volkswagen also stated once again that their new cars are absolutely fine:
As previously announced, all new Volkswagen Passenger Car brand vehicles that fulfill the EU6 norm valid throughout Europe are not affected. This therefore also includes the current Golf, Passat and Touran models.
Imagine a large container filled to the brim with hundred dollar bills, set ablaze by a few barrels of diesel fuel that was casually poured all over it. That’s pretty much what’s happening right now at the Volkswagen Group.
Photo credit: Getty Images
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