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Tag: Emissions

  • Australia sues Volkswagen over alleged emissions fraud

    Australia sues Volkswagen over alleged emissions fraud

    The Australian consumer watchdog on Thursday said it had sued the Australian arm of world No. 2 carmaker Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) for intentionally selling more than 57,000 vehicles with software which lied about levels of toxic emissions.

    “These allegations involve extraordinary conduct of a serious and deliberate nature by a global corporation,” Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Chairman Rod Sims said in a statement.

    The Federal Court action adds to what is already proving to be costly legal fallout for the German company as it faces class action lawsuits in Australia and around the world over emissions fraud, as well as penalties from antitrust authorities.

    Already in Australia, law firm Maurice Blackburn is seeking more than A$100 million ($75 million) from the company, including the full replacement cost of some 90,0000 vehicles, while the auto giant has agreed to pay its 650 U.S. dealers $1.2 billion in compensation.

    In Australia, the ACCC said it wanted the company to make public declarations of misconduct, pay unspecified financial penalties and issue corrective advertising in relation to its actions over five years.

    “Volkswagen engaged in multiple breaches of the Australian consumer law by concealing software in their vehicles to cheat emissions testing and misleading consumers about the vehicles’ compliance,” Sims said.

    “Consumers rightly expect that their vehicle’s emissions would operate as advertised during their day-to-day use and we allege that this was not the case.”

    Volkswagen Group Australia said in a statement that it doubted the ACCC’s action would benefit consumers since it planned to give them software which corrected the emissions data as soon as it was approved by the government – likely by year-end.

    The Volkswagen unit, which is defending the private class action, said it was reviewing the ACCC’s claims.

  • Daimler to unveil long-distance electric car in October

    Daimler to unveil long-distance electric car in October

    Germany’s Daimler will lift the curtain on its much-anticipated long-distance electric car at the Paris Motor Show in October, as the automaker gears up to compete with Tesla Motors Inc’s Model X sport-utility vehicle (SUV).

    The company will display a prototype of an electric-powered Mercedes car with a 500-kilometre (310 miles) range, Chief Development Officer Thomas Weber said this week in Stuttgart at an event for journalists.

    “The structure is ready, the teams are working and the initial results from road tests are coming in quick succession,” he said.

    Weber did not specify how soon the car would hit the road but said it would be sometime this decade.

    Daimler and European rivals are stepping up investments in electric vehicles in order to meet new EU pollution targets and catch up with U.S. battery-car specialist Tesla. The German government has also announced subsidies for buyers of electric and other less polluting cars.

    German competitor Volkswagen’s subsidiaries Audi and Porsche have already unveiled long-distance electric prototypes, while BMW is working on one.

    Weber also said Daimler would launch its fourth-generation electric Smart car at the end of the year in both two and four-seater variants.

    Daimler currently offers two fully electric cars under its Smart and B-class models and a host of plug-in hybrids, powered by a combined battery and combustion engine. Further hybrid models are in the pipeline.

    The company is aiming to sell more than 100,000 electric cars a year by the end of the decade, Weber said. He declined to provide the sales figure for 2015.

    Daimler has also been working on fuel cell powered cars, which run on electricity generated by hydrogen. It initially planned to launch such a vehicle in 2014 but had to postpone, blaming pricing issues.

    The fuel cell operated SUV GLC, likely to compete with Toyota’s Mirai, is now expected to enter production next year.

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  • South Korea says Nissan manipulated emissions, plans fine and recall

    South Korea says Nissan manipulated emissions, plans fine and recall

    outh Korea said that Nissan Motor had manipulated emissions on a diesel sport utility vehicle and that it planned to fine the automaker as well as sue the head of its Korean operations.

    The government said the Japanese automaker had used a so-called defeat device that helps a vehicle’s emissions management system turn off during regular driving conditions.

    Nissan denied any wrongdoing.

    “Nissan Motor has never illegally manipulated any vehicles we have produced so far and used defeat devices in those cars,” the automaker’s Korea unit said in a statement.

    The South Korean environment ministry said it planned to fine Nissan 330 million won ($279,920) for manipulating emissions on its Qashqai SUV. It will also order a recall of the 814 Qashqai vehicles sold in the country so far.

    South Korea conducted tests on 20 diesel vehicles, after finding in November that Germany’s Volkswagen AG had falsified emissions tests.

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