“The End to all Volkswagen Diesel Vehicles in the US?”

Since late 2015, VW was barred from selling diesel vehicles affected by the emission scandal after it was discovered that these vehicles had an alleged “cheat device” installed in them.

One year on from the breaking of the scandal, there are still ongoing discussions on whether the German automaker will be allowed to resume sales of VW vehicles in the U.S. Even if they are allowed to sell the diesel vehicles in the U.S., it is not clear if VW will or not.

As it stands, their diesel vehicles are not hugely popular in the U.S. anyway.

VW is currently negotiating with the U.S. regulators for their approval of their diesel vehicles recall fix. This may not be agreed until next year at the earliest.

In the meantime, the German car manufacturers will evaluate their diesel engines for their suitability in the U.S. market following the “dieselgate” scandal that broke last year. The vehicles are set to be subject to stricter safety procedures where full disclosure of the product will most likely be needed in order for it to be placed back on the market. But VW are yet to disclose future product decisions, according to VW spokeswoman, Jeannine Ginivan.

VW’s U.S. chief, Hinrich Woebcken, said that VW would like to offer diesel models in the U.S. for 2017 through to 2019; but he made it clear that these diesel models will not be the main sellers. He went on to say that there will be a shift in how they see themselves in the market.

This does not come as a shock following the latest car emissions scandal, which has given VW a bit of a bad name in many eyes, to say the least. Woebcken accepts that “the high percentage of diesels that we had before will not come back again” (source). However, he has mentioned that with the access to ‘new technologies’ it may be possible to find a replacement for diesel vehicles. Prior to the scandal, diesel vehicles made up around a quarter of VW sales in the U.S., while the sales of the Golf SportWagen cars made up 90% of sales.

These figures have since dropped significantly.

Ongoing legal action

VW is still in the process of recalling their vehicles and sorting a working method of how it will be fixed, which is subject to the approval of the U.S. EPA and the California Air Resources Board. It is unclear what the repairing process will be – i.e. whether there will be a change to the emissions control software, or a bigger change to the vehicle hardware. The method of recall is yet to be seen.

The EPA’s website reports that it could take up to a year to make remedial actions, develop a substantial recall plan, and then lastly to issue the notices out to the affected vehicle owners.

However, several states in the U.S. have already taken matters to their own hands for remedial action and are bringing legal proceedings against VW; with California already having some success earlier this month in a settlement worth $86 billion. On the grand scheme of things, VW is still in the process of finalising its settlement approaches, which have to be approved by Charles Breyer, the federal judge. This will take place on October 18 2016.

Here in the UK

If you think you have been affected by VW’s car emissions scandal, please do not hesitate to contact us and we can help you in your claim. There is no obligation to do so, but you never know what you could be missing out on!

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