VW claims India cars have no defeat device

Volkswagen Group cars in India have “no ‘defeat device’ in the engine”, Andreas Lauermann, President and Managing Director of Volkswagen India, has told Autocar India.

VW has announced a recall of 3,23,700 cars fitted with the EA 189 engine in India in the wake of the emissions scandal, but it is just a software update, Lauermann confirmed, and the cars are not fitted with the ‘defeat device’ found in US cars with the same engine.

“We are fulfilling all the BS-III and BS-IV norms in India. This is not only according to the norms, but also by legal interpretation,” Lauermann informed Autocar India.

“There’s a big difference between the US and Europe. In Europe, there is no proof that there is a ‘defeat device’ and they are not speaking about it. They are speaking only about solutions. “In the US it’s completely different. There the technical solution is also different. The system works in a different way, and the software was also working in a different way,” he explained.

Lauermann said the voluntary recall is just a means to keep all the EA 189 engines in line with the latest technical updates, and the fuel consumption, performance and CO2 measurements will be unaffected after the software update.

“We want the same technical solutions for our customers all over the world, so we have issued this voluntary recall,” he said. “The customers are not forced, even by law, to bring the cars back, so owners can decide on their own. It’s a software solution, and not anything to do with hardware.”

Lauermann also said that despite cuts to the VW Group after the scandal, the manufacturer's plans in India are unaffected. “We are following our long-term plans, and these are not changing at the moment,” Lauermann said.

“We are continuing with strong localisation, which you can see in our compact sedan [Ameo] and we will be localising the new EA288 (2.0-litre diesel) engine this year.”

The EA 189 engine at the centre of the scandal was found to emit up to 40 times above the normal amount of nitrogen oxide in the US, and the manufacturer has admitted that 11 million diesel cars worldwide are fitted with the device.