VW finally has some positive news after a tidal wave of bad publicity as it prepares to announce the initial findings of its internal investigation into the emissions affair.
IHS Automotive perspective | |
Significance | VW has announced that it thinks there are 36,000 cars instead of the initial figure of 800,000 involved in having miss-stated CO2 emissions figures, while it has appointed head of procurement Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz to oversee its response to the diesel emissions scandal. |
Implications | The news regarding the number of vehicles involved in the miss-stating of CO2 emissions through the type approval process is probably the first really good news that the VW Group has had since the original emissions scandal broke back in September. The company is set to announce today what the initial findings of its internal investigation into the issue are and the world will be watching with interest. |
Outlook | VW is slowly beginning to regain control of the narrative surrounding the emissions situation, something which is vital for its short and medium term prospects. The news that the CO2 issue is far less pronounced than first thought will help in this process, as will the news that the company has an easy fix for the 3.0 diesel powertrains in the US, while the appointment of Garcia Sanz to oversee the overall diesel situation is also a positive. |
The Volkswagen (VW) Group has released a statement in which it says the initial figures for how many vehicles were affected with mis-stated CO2 emissions as part of the type approval process were vastly overstated, while the statement also claimed that the CO2 element of the incident was "largely concluded". The company said that the vast majority of the 800,000 cars that VW had initially said may be affected by mis-stated CO2 figures "do correspond to the CO2 figures originally determined". As a result of this the company was also able to conclude that there was no corresponding mis-stating of fuel consumption figures. The statement said, "During internal remeasurements slight deviations were found on just nine model variants of the Volkswagen brand. These model variants will be remeasured by a neutral technical service under the supervision of the appropriate authority by Christmas. In cases where the correctness of original figures is confirmed, there will be no consequences. These cars can be offered for sale by dealers without any reservations. In the case of any deviations, the figures will be adjusted in the future in the course of the normal processes as required." VW went on to state that the nine models which were affected only had mis-stated CO2 readings by a few grams on average, corresponding to increased NEDC fuel consumption of between 0.1 and 0.2 litres per kilometre. The company first announced that over 800,000 cars nay have had their CO2 emissions mis-stated back in November (see Germany: 4 November 2015: VW uncovers CO2 emissions irregularities with 800,000 cars affected).
Specific vehicles affected by the issue
- Polo 1.0-litre TSI BlueMotion 70kW EU6 Seven-speed (DSG)
- Scirocco 2.0-litre TDI BMT 135kW EU6 Six-speed manual gearbox
- Jetta 1.2-litre TSI BMT 77kW EU6 Six-speed manual gearbox
- Jetta 2.0-litre TDI BMT 81kW EU6 Five-speed manual gearbox
- Golf Convertible 2.0-litre TDI BMT 81kW EU6 Five-speed manual gearbox
- Golf 2.0-litre TDI BMT 110kW EU6 Six-speed manual gearbox
- Passat Alltrack 2.0-litre TSI 4MOTION BMT 162kW EU6 Seven-speed (DSG)
- Passat Variant 2.0-litre TDI SCR 4MOTION BMT 176kW EU6 Seven-speed (DSG)
- Passat Variant 1.4-litre TSI ACT 4MOTION BMT 110kW EU6 Six-speed manual gearbox
VW has appointed the executive board member for procurement, Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz, to be the overall lead in fixing the issues regarding the defeat device software on the EA189 diesel engine and similar issues regarding the 3.0-litre V-6 diesel unit in the US. A statement said that Sanz would systematically process the diesel issue, while continuing in his role as group head of procurement. However, he will hand over the reins as VW brand head of procurement to Ralf Brandstaetter, who has been with the company for 22 years and has been head of purchasing for new product launches since 2012.
With regards to the diesel emissions component of the situation Audi, which has the vast majority of cars affected by this specific situation, says it has found a relatively simple solution to fix the issue to remedy the V6 3.0-litre diesel engines that are fitted with a variant of the defeat device software that can operate the powertrain in a different testing mode to lower NOx emissions. Commenting on what is being done in the US, Audi CEO Rupert Stadler addressed Audi employees at the company's headquarters at Ingolstadt. He said, "Swift, straightforward and customer-friendly solutions are in discussion. Every day we are taking another step towards the solution." Audi said last month that it failed to disclose auxiliary emissions control devices (AECDs) as required by US law. One of the AECDs fitted to adjust the working temperature of catalytic converters is regarded as a defeat device according to US law, Audi said.
Outlook and implications
The announcement regarding the number of VW Group vehicles involved in the CO2 emissions mis-stating aspect of the wider emissions situation is a very positive development. For the first time since the EA189 emissions situation broke in late September, when the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation regarding the defeat device fitted to EA189 diesel engines, the VW Group has been able to make a public statement where it has effectively said, "Things weren't as bad we thought." And the fact that the list of affected vehicles is less than 5% of the number that the company originally thought may be affected is particularly positive, There may have been an element of news management here, with VW looking at the absolute worst-case scenario number knowing in advance that the number was likely to be far less and this could be communicated at a later stage. Either way this was a wise and prudent strategy and it has netted a positive PR result for VW. At the time of writing VW is announcing the initial findings of its own internal investigation of how the situation arose and what steps it will take next, and we will have a full report in tomorrow's World Markets Automotive (WMA) service. However, it appears that the company under new CEO Matthias Mueller is serious about achieving full transparency on the matter and that it understand that to re-establish the trust of customers, wider consumers and regulators full disclosure is the only option. Only then will VW begin to regain control of the narrative around the wider emissions situation and begin the process of repairing reputational damage.