Despite being sued by a local environmental group, VW remains committed to the growing market.
VW takes a closer look at itself Image: Dave Humphreys |
China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation have sued Volkswagen Group for air pollution emitted by diesel cars fitted with the defeat device.
The non-profit organisation was not satisfied with VW's public apology and has brought the claim forward in Tianjin.
Despite tough conditions, a slowing market and the massive ongoing cost of the overall investigation, VW has announced it will protect its planned €4.4bn investment in China and will exempt it from its cost-cutting campaign. The funds will be sourced from VW's joint ventures with China FAW Group Corp and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.
The embattled automaker will boost growth in the market by adding two multipurpose vehicles and a wagon to its China model range and plans to introduce 10 SUVs within the next three to four years.
Initial results of the emissions investigation are now available and show the Group is well underway with its plans to realign its strategy. The investigation is being carried out by 450 external and internal experts who have sourced some 100 terabytes of data so far - roughly the equivalent to 50 million books.
According to VW's Chairman, the Group will begin rolling out technical solutions for its European customers in January next year. Although the investigation is ongoing and will continue for some time, early findings show a lax attitude towards rules and regulations and weaknesses in some processes led to a number of employees cheating the system to produce results.
Meamwhile, fellow European automaker Opel is taking the offensive and is voluntarily producing emissions stats and embracing future standards early.