A further original equipment homologation for the VW Arteon has been announced. Size 225/55R17 97W and 245/45R18 96W versions of the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 featuring the company’s extended mobility SealTech technology have been approved for OE fitment on the new five-door fastback.
Giti Tire has received confirmation that two sizes of Giti brand tyres will be fitted as original equipment on the 2019 Volkswagen Passat in North America. The Passat will wear the All-Season GitiComfort A1 in sizes 235/45R18 95H and 235/40R19 92H. These approvals are the first original equipment placements for Giti brand tyres that will be manufactured at the company’s plant in Chester County, South Carolina, which is expected to begin production later this year.
Falken tyres are being supplied as original equipment to the latest Volkswagen Touran. The Falken Ziex ZE914A Ecorun will be fitted on the Touran in size 205/60 R16 96V XL.
Volkswagen is fitting the Falken Ziex ZE914A Ecorun tyres in size 215/65R17 99V as the original equipment tyre for its new Tiguan model, as of 1 January 2017. The compact SUV’s newest iteration is designed to offer comfort and convenience alongside class-leading driving dynamics, and the Sumitomo brand says its Ziex ZE914A Ecorun is “the perfect fit”. The tyre was developed to reduce fuel consumption and deliver good handling and braking even in wet road conditions.
Harcus Sinclair UK Limited, a UK law firm specialising in large group litigation, has applied for a group litigation order in claims against VW, Audi, SEAT and Skoda arising out of the Volkswagen emissions scandal, which has affected 1.2 million cars in the UK alone. This is the first group litigation order sought in relation to the VW emissions scandal on behalf of UK consumers.
A group litigation order is the Court’s mechanism for handling claims involving a large number of claimants who share the same complaint. The application for the group litigation order will be heard in the High Court on 30 January 2017. Media is permitted to attend.
The Volkswagen Group reports that it is expanding its artificial intelligence (AI) work in order to “not only with a view to using this key technology in the field of autonomous driving and in production, but also to speed up corporate processes”. To that end, Prof. Patrick van der Smagt will be joining the team of AI experts and data scientists at the Volkswagen Group’s Data Lab in Munich from October, and will lead the AI team. Van der Smagt is Associate Professor at Technische Universität München and one of Europe’s leading experts in deep learning and robotics.
The VW Tiguan made its debut in 2007 and has since racked up more than 2.8 million sales in 170 countries. In Germany, the Tiguan is regarded as one of VW’s four main ‘pillars’, along with the Polo, Golf and Passat. In order to continue this success story, VW has launched a revamped version of the Tiguan this year.
Matthias Müller, the boss of Volkswagen has rejected calls to offer the same sort of compensation to offer European customers in the same way as American drivers when the carmaker agreed to a $14.7bn settlement in the US over its emissions scandal.
All 37 UK of the cars the government test in the wake of the automotive emissions scandal that began with VW last year exceed laboratory emissions standards in real-world conditions. However none of the vehicles tested in the UK programme showed evidence of defeat devices except VW models.
The UK government published its research into emissions levels from leading diesel car models, fulfilling a commitment to consumers to investigate potential manipulation of emission controls, on 21 April 2016 – just as leading car manufacturers (beginning with Mitsubishi) began making statements about their involvement in the emissions scandal.
Volkswagen is to offer “substantial compensation” and initiate a car buy-back scheme in US following the diesel emissions scandal. However, there are not expected to be any such measures in the UK or Europe. Final details of what the company is offering are expected to be announced in June, but what is offered is expected to be “substantial”. In the 24 hours after VW made this deal public, Mitsubishi announced that 625,000 of its cars came with inaccurate emissions figures. This was followed by the news that Mercedes’ parent company Daimler AG is launching an internal investigation into its own emissions testing.
Daimler AG has confirmed that it is conducting an “internal investigation regarding its certification process related to exhaust emissions in the United States”. This action follows a request from the US Department of Justice (DOJ). As a result the company says it will “investigate possible indications of irregularities and of course take all necessary actions.”
VW has borne the brunt of criticism for its admitted use of defeat devices in order to manipulate test results. However, the latest research from Which? found that many other manufacturers are breaking emission limits too.
Patrick McGillycuddy is taking over as Head of Group Fleet Services at Volkswagen Group UK, following on from Steve Catlin who moves to another senior role within the Group in the UK. McGillycuddy, who will take up his new position on 15 February, joins the Group Fleet Services function from ŠKODA UK, where he has been Head of Fleet for the past two and a half years. Prior to joining the Volkswagen Group he held roles at Vauxhall, GM and Peter Vardy.
The Volkswagen Group is streamlining its internal structures. CEO Matthias Müller has almost halved the number of direct reports he receives and new appointments to several posts will take effect in the first quarter of 2016.
While November saw a rise in car sales, SMMT figures show that it was far from a good month for the VW Group in the UK: Volkswagen sales in Britain tumbled in November with new car registrations of VW-branded models falling 20 per cent year-on-year in the wake of the diesel emissions rigging scandal.
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