Today, Volkswagen announced that it has made up significant ground towards fixing the issue with the 2.0-liter TDI models affected by the infamous Dieselgate scandal. The German automaker claims to have purchased or repaired half of the approximately 475,000 vehicles included in the process with 238,000 of those being bought back by the company. This comes just six months after the ruling was made, showing how serious Volkswagen AG is taking the situation, and rightfully so.
These figures show that the manufacturer has repurchased many of the models as opposed to going through the trouble of fixing the tainted emissions systems. With only 6,200 owners opting to have their cars repaired, a huge number of orphan VWs have been left to collect dust in parking lots across the country for the time being.
The agreement reached with U.S. courts states that Volkswagen must offer to buy back or repair 85 percent of the affected vehicles by 2019. If the manufacturing group fails to do so, it will face even more fines to tack onto the already eye-watering $25 billion total cost for Dieselgate. Volkswagen AG must also pay to build an electric car infrastructure in the state of California, promoting the use of zero emission vehicles.
An announcement is yet to be made regarding the 3.0-liter V6 TDI equipped vehicles. Though small in comparison, 83,000 models were fitted with these engines, contributing to VW’s woes. Rest assured VW is working on a fix for that situation as well, making sure to right its wrongs and rebuild its reputation among American consumers.