The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Volkswagen

  • Volkswagen unveils new SUV to win back buyers

    Volkswagen will unveil a battery-powered Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) at the Detroit auto show on January 11, according to company sources, part of a push into electric vehicles as it seeks to win back buyers in United States following its emissions test cheating scandal.

    The car will be a plug-in hybrid version of the Tiguan, the German automaker’s top-selling sport-utility vehicle (SUV), the two sources said last Friday.

    Analysts say Volkswagen’s core VW brand badly needs new models in the world’s second largest auto market to reverse a three-year decline in sales which fell 4.8 per cent in 2015 to 349,440 cars.

    Europe’s biggest automaker is putting increasing emphasis on electric cars following its cheating of diesel emissions tests, which analysts think could hit demand for diesel vehicles, and a focus on SUVs makes sense given their growing popularity.

    The sources said the concept model, following VW’s unveiling of an electric microbus at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week, would hit U.S. dealerships sometime after the planned release next year of a new midsize crossover vehicle and a long-wheelbase Tiguan.

    However, the German group is struggling to balance model development with the growing costs of its emissions scandal, a task made more difficult this week by a US lawsuit seeking billions of dollars in fines.

    The new Tiguan prototype integrates electric engines at the front and rear axles and boasts more off-road quality than the GTE concept version of VW’s fifth best-selling model launched at the Frankfurt auto show last September, the sources said.

    Still, demand for hybrid and electric cars has been dampened by cheap gasoline as well as limited range and high prices.

    US sales of hybrid and all electric vehicles plunged 16 per cent in the first 11 months of 2015 compared with the year before to 452,338 cars, the Electric Drive Transportation Association said.

    However, regulators are requiring automakers to sell more electric cars to curb greenhouse emissions and VW is keen to redouble efforts in the wake of its emissions scandal.

    “Perhaps VW was so successful building cars in a conventional way that the necessity to fully engage with several new aspects of mobility has not been recognised,” chief executive Matthias Mueller said last Wednesday. “That is now different.”

    VW plans to expand its MQB modular platform – the base for most of the group’s small and medium front-wheel-drive models – to build long-range plug-in hybrids and electric cars.

    It also aims to develop a new modular platform dubbed MEB for compact electric cars and light commercial vehicles and launch 20 battery-powered or plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2020.

    “We are developing entirely new and unique vehicle concepts especially for long-distance electric mobility,” VW brand chief Herbert Diess said.

     

    Research firm IHS Automotive forecasts the VW brand’s US sales may plunge another 13 per cent this year, before rebounding in 2017 with the help of SUV launches and steadily growing to 507,794 cars by 2020.

  • Volkswagen recalls Audi A3 Cabriolets

    Volkswagen recalls Audi A3 Cabriolets

    Volkswagen Group of America is recalling 904 model 2015 Audi A3 Cabriolets manufactured June 5, 2014, to April 1, last year.

    The recalled vehicles have a driver or front passenger seat whose cover may be incorrectly stitched, preventing the side air bag from properly deploying in the event of a crash.

    Improper side air bag deployment may increase the risk of injury in the event of a crash.

    Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver’s and/or front passenger’s seatback cover, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin in February.

  • Volkswagen Emissions Scandal: CPC gives seven-day ultimatum for report

    Volkswagen Emissions Scandal: CPC gives seven-day ultimatum for report

    The Consumer Protection Council (CPC) has issued a seven-day ultimatum to Volkswagen Nigeria to provide information on the status of its vehicles in relation to the emissions cheating software, which has reportedly affected 11 million cars worldwide.

    CPC, in a letter to the automaker signed by its Director-General, Mrs Dupe Atoki, said “the attention of the Council has been drawn to some publications wherein Volkswagen has admitted the allegation that certain illegal “defeat device” software was installed in Volkswagen vehicles to cheat emission test. The resultant effect of this on the environment and quality of these cars is of great importance to the CPC.

    “The publications also indicated that Volkswagen had admitted that vehicles with 1.2, 1.6, and 2.0 litre EA 189 engines are all affected, (i.e. Golf, Beatle, Jetta and Passat models).”

    CPC noted that Volkswagen has a huge market in Nigeria, with many customers who may currently be in possession of the affected models.

    The council requested Volkswagen Nigeria to within seven days of the receipt of its letter make available to it the number of affected vehicles in Nigeria (if any), steps taken to inform and sensitise consumers and efforts being made to facilitate quick recall of such vehicles in the country.

    CPC said its directive was pursuant to the powers of the council to compel manufacturers to give public notice of any hazard inherent in their products.

    CPC’s action came on the heels of a scandal that the auto manufacturer’s diesel car engines were found to contain software that can cheat pollution tests, making them seem cleaner than they actually are.

    Around 11 million vehicles worldwide manufactured between 2009 and 2015, including 5 million VW cars, 2.1 million Audi, 1.2 million Skoda, 700,000 Seat and 1.8 million vans, are confirmed to have been built with these so-called “defeat devices.”

  • Volkswagen to recall 8.5 million cars

    Volkswagen to recall 8.5 million cars

    Apparently frustrated with Volkswagen’s slow responses to diesel-gate, German officials are demanding a recall.

    Starting in January, 8.5 million Volkswagen Group diesel-powered cars will be called back to dealers across Europe to receive fixes to their emissions systems that were fitted with emissions test-cheating software.

    According to a Bloomberg report, the decision comes after the German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) rejected the VW Group’s proposal for owners to bring their cars into dealers for repairs on a voluntary basis.

    A VW spokesperson told Reuters that it was recalling 500,000 of those 8.5 million “voluntarily” — it had previously stated that eight million cars in Europe had the faulty software.

    Surely, VW would have preferred to handle repairs as customers chose to have them fixed, rather than in a recall. That’s because, even in recall scenarios, customers are slow to respond to repair notices issues by dealers. So, on a voluntary basis, it’s likely that pace would have been even slower, with some VW diesel owners might not have returned for a fix at all. This would likely have saved VW lots of time and money.So the KBA appears to have decided to force the hand of the world’s largest carmaker.

    The recall constitutes just shy of one-third of the carmaker’s total car sales between the affected 2009 to 2015 model years. Included in that recall are 2.4 million VW diesels in Germany alone. The recall — now the largest in German history — will surely be a huge undertaking and will affect a large swath of the car-owning population. Unlike in the U.S., where diesel cars represent a small fraction of car sales, diesel comprises around half of new car sales in Europe.

    How Volkswagen will fix the affected cars in the now-demanded recall is unclear. The world’s largest carmaker has previously stated it would present a plan to fix the cars in October.

    However, that plan has yet to have been announced. California recently demanded that VW must present to the state a plan of attack by November 20. What will happen if the carmaker misses that deadline remains unclear.

  • SON: Fed Govt to speak on Volkswagen scandal this week

    SON: Fed Govt to speak on Volkswagen scandal this week

    The Federal Government will state its position on the Volkswagen (VW) emission scandal this week, Dr Joseph Odumodu, the Director General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), has said.

    Odumodu, in an SMS to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the relevant government agencies were “working out something.’’

    NAN had asked the SON’s helmsman why the Federal Government was silent on the matter and whether the country was not at risk.

    He said: “We are at risk and we are working out something, but it involves more than one agency.

    “Next week you will be notified of our position, but currently, the standard emission in Nigeria is at the very basic level.

    “While Nigeria is at level 2, Europe for example is at level 6,’’ Odumodu told NAN.

    NAN recalls that the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had discovered that some Volkswagen diesel engine cars on sale in that country had devices that could cheat emission tests.

    The EPA’s findings cover 482,000 cars in the U.S. , including VW brands, such as Audi A3, Jetta, Beetle, Golf and Passat.

    The German car giant had owned up to the malpractice, admitting that about 11 million of its cars worldwide were fitted with the technology, dubbed “defeat device’’.

    Many countries, including South Africa, had reacted to the scandal by carrying out investigations to test the legitimacy of VW’s emissions claims.

    Mr Aminu Jalal, the director general, National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), attributed Nigeria’s silence on the scandal to the status of its emissions standards.

    Jalal told NAN that the country was still at Euro 2 (the second level of the European emissions standards), while VW cars affected in the scandal cheated on far higher levels.

    He said: “We are still at Euro 2. Even if those vehicles that are cheating abroad are imported to Nigeria, it is likely that their emissions would not be violating Euro 2.

    “When they cheat on Euro 5, it means their emission levels are in violation of Euro 4 or 3, but Nigeria is currently at Euro 2.

    “This is why we can’t say that they have breached our regulations until we carry out our own investigations.’’

    The NADDC boss said Nigeria was still at Euro 2 due to a number of factors, including the quality of our fuel, which he said, could not support higher standards.

    He explained that the quality of fuel was one of the bases of emission standards, adding that Nigeria must first increase its fuel standards to attain higher emissions regulations.

    “Emission standards go hand in hand with fuel quality. Our fuel quality is not good enough to support higher emission regulations.

    “The specification for sulphur in our fuel standard is too high. Currently, it is 3000ppm (parts per million) for diesel and about 1000ppm for petrol.

    “For us to go for an emission standard higher than Euro 2, we have to bring down the specification for sulphur in our fuel.

    “We are already working with SON to bring it down to 50ppm, then we can have more rigorous standards as Euro 4 and 5,’’ he said.

    Jalal called for the modification of the nation’s refineries to enable them produce high quality fuel.

  • S/Africa’s regulator to probe Volkswagen emissions

    The South African government will investigate whether Volkswagen AG vehicles in the country are affected by the automaker’s admission that it cheated on emissions testing for diesel engines.

    The National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications, a unit of the Department of Trade and Industry, will work with the environmental affairs and transport ministries to assess vehicles’ compliance with emissions regulations, the NRCS said in an e-mailed statement dated September 23.

    The portable emissions testing system (PEMS) is seen attached to the exhaust of a red 2016 Volkswagen AG Golf TDI emissions certification vehicle. The portable emissions testing system (PEMS) is seen attached to the exhaust of a red 2016 Volkswagen AG Golf TDI emissions certification vehicle.

    Volkswagen admitted to rigging engines to circumvent pollution controls in the U.S., the country’s Environmental Protection Agency said Sept. 19. The crisis wiped about 20 billion euros ($22.4 billion) off VW’s market value this week, forcing Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn to step down on Wednesday as the scandal widened and opened the door for the exit of other top executives.

    “If vehicles are found to be non-compliant, the NRCS will apply sanctioning process, which will lead to recall of the relevant vehicles for correction,” it said.

    The regulator will compare implicated vehicle models against those that were approved in South Africa to determine whether there was any manipulation of pollution data, followed by sampling and testing of emissions requirements against the relevant local standard, it said.

    Volkswagen South Africa spokesman Matt Gennrich declined to comment.

    There were 8,472 new Volkswagens sold in South Africa in August, second only to Toyota Motor Corp.’s 9,939, according to National Association of Automobile Manufacturers data. Volkswagen sold the most passenger vehicles during the month, at 7,857 units, or 23 percent of the total.

     

  • Audi Q1 leads as Volkswagen Group unveils new wave of SUVs

    Audi Q1 leads as Volkswagen Group unveils new wave of SUVs

    The Q1 will be based on the platform that underpins the three-door Audi A3

    The new MQB platform from the Volkswagen Group is going to get plenty of iterations in the next year. It’s going to be underpinning a whole slew of small SUVs from the company. Audi, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen SUVs are all on the way, all aiming for the space below vehicles like the Skoda Yeti and Audi Q3.

    There should be considerable savings in both investment and time if they share the common platform, and those benefits should be passed on to consumers.

    The first vehicle to emerge in this programme is the Audi Q1, which we should see at the Geneva motor show in March 2016. The Q1 will be based on the platform that currently underpins the three-door Audi A3.

    There should be a range of engines offered by the VW Group, from 1.0-litre to 2.0-litre, from petrol to diesel, and there should be hybrid versions as well. Prices should begin between £14k and £20k for the different brands within the group.

  • Volkswagen to recall 500, 000 cars in U.S

    German carmaker Volkswagen has been ordered by United States regulators to recall half a million cars because of a device that disguises pollution levels.

    The “defeat device” allows cars to pass laboratory testing even though they actually emit 40 times the emissions standard, the BBC reports.

    The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been taking a more aggressive stance on car pollution and violations of the country’s Clean Air Act.

    The recall could cost the carmaker up to $18bn (£11.5bn).

    It affects 2009-2014 Jettas, Beetles, Audi A3s and Golfs and 2014-2015 Passats.

    “Using a defeat device in cars to evade clean air standards is illegal and a threat to public health,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.

    The illegal system allowed cars to detect when they were undergoing smog emission test and lowered the rate of pollution. Those emission controls were then turned off during ordinary use.

    The state of California which assisted in the investigation has also issued a notice of violation to Volkswagen.

    In 2014 the EPA fined Korean automakers Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors $300m for misrepresenting the fuel economy in 1.2 million of their cars. That settlement is the highest to date.

     

     

  • Volkswagen to spend $343m on South African factory revamp

    German carmaker Volkswagen plans to spend 4.5 billion rand ($343 million) to upgrade its factory in South Africa and improve its supplier base, it has said.

    Most of the money would be used to revamp its factory in Uitenhage in Eastern Cape province to produce new models, Thomas Schaefer, head of Volkswagen’s South African unit, said.

    VW has been pushing for greater scale under Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn’s eight-year reign, propelled by adding brands and factories and roaring sales in China.

    VW is the second-biggest auto maker by sales in South Africa after Toyota. Its vehicles are sold domestically as well as exported to the rest of Africa.

    Other manufacturers in the country include Ford Motor Corporation, BMW and General Motors.

     

  • Volkswagen America recalls 420,000 vehicles

    Volkswagen of America will recall about 420,000 vehicles in the United States (US) due to a potential problem with air bags.

    The recall affects various VW models, including the Golf, Jetta and Passat, with model years between 2010 and 2014, the company said.

    The company said it notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that it will be issuing a voluntary safety recall affecting the steering wheel clock spring on approximately 420,000 Volkswagen vehicles in the U.S.

    On certain vehicles, the steering wheel clock spring could become contaminated with long hair or long fibers, which may cause a displacement of the internal guide loops. When the guide loops are dragged out of position, they may apply tension to the internal flat cable and cause it to tear.

    Should the cable tear, the electrical connection to the driver’s front airbag may be lost, causing the airbag monitoring indicator light to illuminate. In a crash that warrants a driver front airbag deployment, the airbag will not deploy, leading to a risk of driver injury.

    No accidents or injuries related to this issue have been reported, the company said.