Volkswagen stirs up the automotive industry with emission testing scandal

Volkswagen has today confirmed that the number of vehicles in the UK fitted with the same software behind the diesel emissions scandal, is nearly 1.2 million. This means that the UK is the second most-affected country to have the cheating vehicles re-called, in what is officially the biggest recall of vehicles in history.

Whilst most of the focus has surrounded Volkswagen, other automotive makers such as Audi and Skoda have also confirmed to containing the same software. Audi has said that at least 2.1 million of its diesel-powered cars are affected and they are currently working at full speed to determine a technical solution. Skoda has said 1.2 million of its cars are involved.

In light of this scandal its no surprise then that industry commentators have suggested that other major car-makers may be at fault. Jaguar Land Rover were one of the first to distance themselves from the scandal by making it clear that they do not use any emissions defeat software. The firm reiterated their goal of producing cleaner vehicles and do so by employing 8,000 engineers and technologists across their advanced engineering and design centres in the West Midlands. 

A spokesman for JLR said: “Our latest cars are the cleanest ever and customers who buy vehicles from Jaguar Land Rover can be confident that they will be fully compliant with all EU and US emissions regulations; that they will adopt the latest technology to control emissions and they will be helping improve air quality and meeting CO2 and emission targets.”

The total cost of the investigation undertaken by by VW will be £4.6 billion. It is unclear at this stage what the total cost will be world-wide.

Are you a VW owner and think you may be affected?