ARAI Starts Investigation into VW in India

Following Volkswagen's admission that it manipulated the emission levels on its diesel cars via a special software, the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) said on Friday that it has also initiated a probe into the carmaker. The government had asked the agency to verify if Volkswagen had manipulated emission tests in India too.

VW, which now faces a fine to the tune of $18 billion, admitted that 11 million cars were fitted with the software that aided manipulatiion of emission tests. As a consequence, the German carmaker is also facing investigations in South Korea, France, Italy, Canada, Germany, and the UK.

Rashmi Urdhwareshe, Director, ARAI, said, "We have sought details from Volkswagen and are awaiting their response." She further added that the testing agency will in accordance with the guidelines of the Ministry of Heavy Industries. However, ARAI is yet to decide if it will pick up random test samples.

The special software allowed the affected cars to detect when they were on emission control test and lower their pollution levels. The software allowed VW to conceal the fact that the emission levels of the diesel cars in question were in fact 40 times higher than what is legal in the US. Martin Winterkorn, CEO, Volkswagen, also resigned on September 23, as the company's value took a massive hit.

However, VW may not be the only German carmaker to be under the scanner. Last week, a report claimed that certain BMW diesel models also exceed EU anti-pollution limits; by about 11 times, to be precise. Though BMW denied manipulating emission tests, Rosstandart, Russian state standards agency, said on Friday that it had requested the carmaker's unit in Russia for information about potential concerns about its exhaust emissions systems.

(With inputs from PTI)