Monday, October 12, 2015

EPA Director: Certifying 2016 VW Diesels Could Take Months

Once upon a long-ago oil crisis, the VW Golf was Germany’s cubic answer to OPEC and the Honda CVCC. Those of you accustomed to thinking of it as the cheap little heir to the Rabbit, itself the heir to the original hippy-tippy Beetle, need to get up and adjust the rabbit ears on your signal receiver. Even a short stint at the wheel of the latest Golf TDI will make you forget the slovenly yet thrifty ways of its predecessors.

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Volkswagen’s diesel-emissions scandal came to light just as the company was attempting to certify its 2016 2.0-liter TDI models. In view of the scandal, the company withdrew its application, but it is planning to reinstate it. When it does, VW should not expect quick action on the EPA’s part. All of which means it will be quite a while before the cars reach showrooms.

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Referring to the 2016-model VWs with the 2.0-liter TDI engine, Chris Grundler, EPA director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality, said in an interview with Automotive News that “we will want to test them thoroughly and in different ways,” a process that will take “a matter of months.”

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The agency has already said that it’s going to be changing up its testing procedures, in order to make emissions tests harder to game. It also faces the not-inconsiderable task of testing whatever fixes VW proposes for its noncompliant cars, fixes that will vary by vehicle, with some models needing only a software update while others need new hardware fitted.

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Volkswagen hasn’t yet said when it will resubmit its application for the 2016 cars, and the delay in its processing is not good news for the brand’s dealers. TDI models accounted for roughly one in five VW sales last year—although with the TDI’s now-besmirched image, coupled with the potential of lower fuel-economy ratings for the cleaner engines, diesels are unlikely to be such a large percentage of Volkswagen’s model mix for a long time.

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