Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 21 October 2015

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications

Emissions Readings for Volkswagen Cars: Discussion

9:30 am

Mr. Lars Himmer:

It is extremely important for us to restore trust and that certainly applies to the customer mentioned by the Chairman. It is a very new issue and we are focused on finding a technical solution to bring the cars into the condition that is needed. We expect the technical solution to apply to 50% of engines. In 52% of the engines in Ireland software is the issue while in the other 48% the issue is potentially both software and some hardware. The operations should take approximately an hour for software, with extra time for the hardware later on. Time off the road should be absolutely minimal. Many customers will come in to service their cars anyway and it will be natural to carry out the update of the engine at that time. We will make certain that we can accommodate customers and we will be in contact with fleet owners with a view to doing this on their premises. We will be very flexible and will ensure there is minimal inconvenience as soon as we have the solution. The solution should not have an impact on CO2 and should not impact mpg or the performance of the car. There should, therefore, be no difference in residual value. It is very early days and we are tracking residual values. We will take full responsibility but we need to base our approach on facts and to make sure that we fix these cars. That is our priority at the moment.