…millions of cars to be recalled
By OdunewuSegun
Volkswagen has lost a whopping 30 billion Euros over its recent scandal involving the fitting of software’s in some of its brand that conceal their emission deficiencies. The company shares which dropped by 19 per cent when the news first broke last week, fell by a further 18 per cent.
The German car maker saw nearly €30bn (£21.7bn) wiped of its market value after it admitted 11 million vehicles worldwide were affected Health experts claimed nearly 12,000 lives a year in Britain were being lost because emissions have not fallen.
United States transport Secretary; Patrick Mcloughlin had called on the European Commission to launch an urgent investigation after the German car manufacturer admitted that 11 million vehicles worldwide could have been fitted with software which misled regulators. The software is designed to switch on fume-supressing technology during testing, allowing cars to pass strict environmental checks, while still spewing out dangerous levels of nitrogen oxides on the road.
The models affected by this latest scandal includes: Jetta, Beetle, Audi A3 and Golf models from 2009 to 2015, including the new Passat.
Volkswagen originally admitted that only 482,000 cars were affected but on Tuesday said 11 million cars with type EA 189 engines also showed ‘anomalies.’ The engine in question is a 2.0 litre, four-cylinder turbodiesel which is fitted to many Volkswagen cars including brands Audi, Skoda and Seat. It also admitted that millions more vehicles are likely to be recalled because of the same issue.
Millions of cars in Britain face being recalled if the scandal is as wide-reaching as feared, and car owners could see performance drop dramatically if manufacturers are forced to install new technology to cut fumes.
Health experts said that pollution should have fallen by half if the car industry had kept its commitment to cutting emissions levels. But instead 23,500 people are still dying every year because of nitrogen oxide. It suggests that nearly 12,000 lives might have been saved if emissions targets were met.
The United Nations said the new admission from Volkswagen was “extremely troubling” “The auto industry has to be a partner in all efforts in the private sector in terms of combating climate change,” said UN spokesman StephaneDujarric.
Local handler of the brand in Nigeria, Stallion Motors is yet to make a statement on whether some of the models in its showroom across the country are affected.