 "Volkswagen")
Volkswagen said on Wednesday that it would be able to bring its diesel cars in line with European clean-air standards by updating engine software and installing a small, tube-shaped part roughly the same diameter as the cardboard tube in a roll of paper towels.
The technical patch that Volkswagen presented at company headquarters here is valid only for Europe, where it will be installed beginning next year.
Modifying Volkswagen diesel cars sold in the United States will be more complicated because of stricter rules on emissions of nitrogen oxides, pollutants harmful to the environment and human health.
On Wednesday, in fact, California regulators gave Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche a deadline of 45 days to outline how they planned to fix faulty emissions on their cars with 3-litre diesel engines. The agency had already given such a deadline for the automaker's 2-litre engines, which ended on Friday.
Volkswagen will go a long way toward overcoming the crisis it faces if it can fix the cars in Europe.
Of the 11 million vehicles that the company has admitted programming to cheat on emissions tests, most are in Europe, and about 8.5 million of those require repairs. About 500,000 of the cars are in the United States. The company said it hoped the changes to European cars would not affect performance or fuel economy, but could not yet guarantee that.
Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, a professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen, estimated the cost of the recalls in Europe at Euro 500 million, or $532 million, a fraction of the €6.7 billion that the company has set aside to cover the cost of the scandal.
"Volkswagen is finding its financial footing more quickly than expected," Dudenhöffer said in an email. He noted, though, that Volkswagen still faced major risks, including fines by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and lawsuits by angry owners and shareholders.
The automaker also said on Wednesday that eight employees - fewer than some news outlets had reported - had been suspended in connection with an internal investigation to determine who decided to install illegal software in the vehicles.
Hans-Gerd Bode, a Volkswagen spokesman, declined to identify the employees who were suspended but confirmed that they included three top managers with responsibility for engine development. Software in the cars ensured that they were on their best behaviour when being tested, but allowed the vehicles to exceed emissions limits at other times.
©2015 The New York Times News Service
