Volkswagen In Trouble Again Over Selling Pre-Production Cars To Public

After facing global outrage over the Dieselgate Scandal, Volkswagen globally seems to be in a jam yet again over what could possibly be yet another automotive scandal. According to reports, German prosecutors are investigating the sale of over 6,700 pre-production Volkswagen vehicles globally - cars that should have never been sold to the public and should have been used only for testing purposes. Volkswagen has already admitted to the wrongdoing that started way back in 2006 and continued all the way to 2018. While this new scandal affects Germany, most of Europe and North America, it is uncertain whether Volkswagen India have also sold pre-production cars that are not homologated to the public. NDTV carandbike has reached out to Volkswagen India and is waiting for a statement for the same.

According to Volkswagen, 4000 of these cars have gone to customers in Germany while the rest have gone to customers in Europe and in North America. The German Federal Motor Transport Authority has demanded a recall of all affected models and Volkswagen has agreed to buy back these cars in Germany and in North America. In some cases, the difference in these pre-production cars vs the production-ready cars was just a change in software while in some cases the differences were more extensive. It is unclear whether these pro-production cars also have a difference in emissions. The German regulators are also mulling over whether fines should be applied to Volkswagen over these pre-production cars being sold to the public.

(Volkswagen has admitted to selling about 6,700 pre-production cars, however, the German media has reported 9000 units.)

In general, automakers have a production run of several pre-production cars that are then scrapped due to the fact that these are not homologated and thus cannot be sold to the public. The procedure is a pretty common practice amongst car makers over the world as certain pre-production test mules might be hand built or built on a basic assembly line and may have a stark difference in quality and more importantly could have different or fewer safety features that might affect drivers and passengers in case of a collision. While Volkswagen has admitted to selling about 6,700 pre-production cars, independent research by German media outlet Der Spiegel shows over 9000 such vehicles sold to the public.

Source: Motor1 and Der Spiegel