Government to Issue Notice to VW India For Variations in Emission Levels

The cars affected in India are the Jetta, Octavia, Audi A4 and the Audi A6. In a statement to PTI, Ambuj Sharma, Additional Secretary, Heavy Industries Ministry said, "ARAI has found significant variations in the emission level in on-road vehicles as compared to the laboratory measurements. We are issuing a notice to Volkswagen Group of companies today to give technical inputs and explain their position"

The variations in the emission levels of the diesel vehicles have been found to be significant especially on the Jetta, Audi A4 and Vento models. Volkswagen has been given 15-21 days to reply to the notice. Sharma said that a reply is expected from the company by the end of this month with detailed technical inputs from their headquarters in Germany.

ARAI Director Rashmi Urdhwareshe told PTI "We had tested the exhaust in Volkswagen's on-road vehicles and found a significant difference in emission levels in comparison to the laboratory measurements. Significant variation has been found in models including Jetta, Octavia, Audi A4 and Audi A6 in particular."

The findings are a part of the report submitted to the Heavy Industries Ministry by the apex testing agency ARAI. It had begun a probe into Volkswagen's emission standards after a manipulation scandal hit the German auto major in the US and several other countries. The ARAI report was submitted yesterday. If proved of any wrongdoing in India, the world's largest car-maker may have to face criminal proceedings, fine and recall of vehicles.

Volkswagen had already issued a statement on this front last week saying that it has met the Government of India - Ministry of Heavy Industries and ARAI today, on 29th October 2015 and have updated them on the evaluations so far on the ongoing emissions issue with reference to India.

The company also said that since there is a complex combination of several brands, various models, different engine variants and gearboxes as well as different model years that need to be analysed, establishing detailed facts is taking a longer time.

Also Read: VW Emission Scandal: 5 Lakh Volkswagen Cars May Require Mechanical Changes

VW has already admitted that 11 million diesel engine cars worldwide were fitted with the software that helped in manipulating emission tests and it faces a fine of up to $18 billion in the US alone.