1.5m cars in Britain face recall over VW scandal

UP TO 1.5million Volkswagen cars in Britain are likely to be recalled over the emissions scandal, it emerged last night.

Diesel cars sold in this country by the German carmaker under its VW, Audi, Skoda and SEAT brands over the last six years are believed to have been fitted with illegal software that allows them to cheat emissions tests.

They are now expected to be recalled and modified as part of a worldwide recall of more than 11million vehicles.

Details emerged as the beleaguered company appointed Porsche boss Matthias Mueller, 62, as its new chief executive.

It followed the resignation on Wednesday of Martin Winterkorn, who issued a grovelling apology for the scandal but denied any wrong-doing personally.

Volkswagen admitted earlier this week that millions of its diesel cars had been fitted with a ‘defeat device’ designed to trick official emissions tests into believing a car was emitting fewer pollutants than it really was. The device switched engines to a cleaner mode during official tests, but once on the road, the cars produced nitrogen oxide pollutants at up to 40 times the legal standard.

Yesterday Germany’s transport minister, Alexander Dobrindt, revealed that some 2.8million vehicles in his country – Europe’s biggest car market – were caught up in the scandal. Proportionately, this suggests that between 1million and 1.5 million diesel cars in the UK are likely to be affected.

But critics have warned that even these figures could be ‘the tip of the iceberg’. Half of all cars sold in Britain are diesels and lawyers fear the cheating could be ‘endemic’ across the car industry. They are lining up for the biggest-ever class action claims using new consumer rights legislation.

Volkswagen was caught cheating in the US where emissions tests are tougher than in the UK and Europe. In Britain, government watchdogs are to re-check all diesel car models to see if other manufacturers have cheated emissions tests.

Rival German car firms BMW and Mercedes-Benz have vigorously denied claims that they too cheated various emissions tests.

Volkswagen UK said it was ‘straining at the leash’ to get details to any affected customers to call in their cars for a software ‘fix’ to remove the defeat devices.

A spokesman said: ‘We are upset we couldn’t give customers the details they need earlier but as soon as we have identified the exact vehicles affected we will organise the recall and alert out customers.’

New boss Mr Mueller said: ‘My most urgent task is to win back trust for the Volkswagen Group – by leaving no stone unturned and [acting] with maximum transparency.’