“The Board of Management will inform the public in regard to solutions found for the problems next week,” the company said in a statement detailing its supervisory board’s recent meetings.
According to Reuters, analysts are skeptical that the fix itself will be expedient or that customers will find the experience seamless. Volkswagen has said only that a “refit” will be necessary. Whether that comes strictly in the form of software updates or additional emissions equipment is still anybody’s guess.
While the company is still short on details, though some reports have suggested the affected vehicles may need to be outfitted with a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system to bring emissions back down to acceptable levels without a significant reduction in power output and fuel economy.
A urea-injection retrofit is expected to be extremely expensive and may not even be technically feasible. As an alternative, VW could take the cheaper route of simply tweaking the software to run in the emissions-compliant test mode. A software reflash may be less expensive up front, but could cost VW later as the deluge of class-action lawsuits begin to put a price tag on lost value and owners’ higher fuel costs.
The German automaker has already put aside 6.5 billion euros (~$7.25 billion USD) to cover costs associated with the crisis. It is unclear if the total has been allocated solely for the recall costs, or if the charge reflects anticipated fines and civil-litigation damages.
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