Volkswagen South Africa has issued an official statement regarding the implications of its world-wide diesel “cheat” scandal for local customers.

Highlights

– VWSA products comply with all South African standards

– No action required from VWSA product owners

The international media has been buzzing with the Volkswagen diesel scandal in recent weeks. If you have missed out, please see our two previous reports to get up to speed.

–Volkswagen Diesel Scandal: Official German comment

–Volkswagen Diesel Scandal: Update

Now Volkswagen South Africa has issued the following statement:

“There has been extensive international media coverage relating to irregularities in Nitrogen oxide emission values measured during dynamometer regarding the emission standard Euro 5 of Volkswagen diesel vehicles fitted with the type EA189 Euro 5 engines.

“In South Africa the compliance standard is EU 2. All Volkswagen Group diesel vehicles of the type EA 189 retailed in South Africa, that is, Volkswagen passenger, Audi, Light and Medium Commercial Vehicles comply with this standard for Nitrogen oxide emissions.

“We want to further confirm that the bench mode in the software does not affect negatively the CO2 values. Our vehicles accordingly comply with the published CO2 values. Furthermore they are technically safe and roadworthy.

“We would like to apologise to our customers for any uncertainty that may have been created over this issue and want to assure our valued customers, that their vehicles meet all the legal requirements in terms of which the National Regulator approved the sale for use in South Africa.

“There is therefore no action required on either the part of the customer or our dealers.”

You should also know:

The EU2 emissions standard has no specific NOx-only requirement. The only NOx-related requirement is a combination figure with Hydrocarbon (HC). The Euro2 standard (passenger cars, diesel) for this is a figure of no higher than 0.7 g/km of HC+NOx. For Euro5 compliant vehicles this requirement changes to 0.23 g/km, in addition to a NOx-specific requirement of less than 0.18 g/km.