VW faces Rs 171.34-cr fine
A four-member committee formed by the National Green Tribunal has recommended Rs 171.34 crore fine on German auto major Volkswagen as "health damages" for causing air pollution in Delhi due to excess nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.
The expert committee in its report has estimated that Volkswagen cars released approximately 48.678 tonnes of NOx in 2016 in the national capital.
"Estimated cost of heath damage due to additional NOx emissions from the Volkswagen group vehicles is approximately Rs 171.34 crore using a metro city i.e Delhi as a base. The value may be considered conservative due to lack of methodologies for calculating the overall impact of nitrogen oxide on environment in India and hence only health damages are valued.
"Further the valuation is for Delhi city considering that the value of NOx is 435 tonnes is released in the city. This is assumed because lack of data on the geographical locations and plying regions of Volkwagen vehicles which have caused the damage and for all the years which have been considered for damage," the committee has said in its report. Nitrogen oxide is a smog-forming pollutant linked to heart and lung disease. DETROIT: Volkswagen and Ford announced on Tuesday that the automakers had agreed to an alliance to jointly develop commercial vehicles and pickups starting in 2022 in a bid to reduce costs.
The announcement came after more than six months of talks between the car giants which has also included discussions around autonomous and electrification technologies. The companies said they had agreed to "investigate collaboration on autonomous vehicles, mobility services and electric vehicles and have started to explore those opportunities." The deal reached between the American and German automakers to develop commercial vans and mediumsized pickups as early as 2022 does not involve crossownership, according to a joint statement. The two automakers have been exploring closer cooperation as trade frictions force carmakers to rethink where they build vehicles for Europe, the US and China.