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Volkswagen, the firm that sparked ‘dieselgate’, launches its own scrappage scheme

VOLKSWAGEN – the car maker whose emissions scandal sparked the huge backlash against diesel – has launched its own scrappage scheme in the UK.

The German car giant is offering discounts on its new vehicles of between £1,800 and £6,000 to buyers who trade in older diesel models. An admission from the company that “dieselgate” meant 11m of its cars worldwide had been fitted with “defeat devices”, which allowed them to beat pollution tests, knocked tens of billions off VW’S share price.

The systems realised when a car’s emissions were being checked and turned on pollution controls, which were not in use during normal driving conditions. This meant they pumped out up to 40 times the permitted levels of emissions when on the road. The revelation ignited a wave of legal claims from motorists, regulators and investors, claimed senior scalps at the company, and cost VW billions in fines and compensation in the US.

Other countries are pursuing similar claims, but VW has argued that it only broke the law in the US, with regulations in other countries not having the same implications. The company was ordered to recall cars in the UK fitted with defeat devices to make them comply with regulations.

So far VW says it has fixed 775,000 of the 1.15m affected vehicles in Britain, but admits it may never make all of them compliant because of difficulties tracing them.

VW’S scrappage scheme also applies to its Audi, Seat and Skoda brands and the company said when combined with government grants, up to £10,000 could be knocked off the price of its electric vehicles. Having focused on diesel technology for years, VW is now pouring billions of investment into electric vehicles, and has pledged to become the world leader in these models by 2025.

The scrappage scheme follows similar offers from other manufacturers including Ford, BMW and Vauxhall as they try to patch up the industry’s reputation in the aftermath of dieselgate.

The scheme is being launched as new regulations over emissions testing come into force today, updating a system that has not been overhauled for two decades. However, industry analysts have cautioned the new tests could mean higher taxes for motorists as vehicles register higher CO2 emissions as a result.