Audi Will Reportedly Buy Back 25,000 Vehicles

Reports have surfaced that Audi will buy back 25,000 vehicles that have the 3.0-liter TDI V-6 in the U.S. This buyback would only apply to older models that can’t be brought into exhaust emissions compliance, the German newspaper Der Spiegel reports.

While the initial Volkswagen Group Dieselgate focused on the 2.0-liter TDI four-cylinder, it was discovered that the 3.0-liter TDI V-6 used by the Volkswagen Group also employed this emissions test-cheating software. Audi is currently in talks with U.S. regulators regarding close to 85,000 vehicles equipped with the 3.0-liter TDI V-6, according to a Reuters article. Approximately 25,000 of those vehicles cannot be brought into emissions compliance.

Audi has been facing less-serious-than-Volkswagen litigation in a U.S. District Court regarding the emissions scandal, nicknamed “Dieselgate,” regarding its 2.0-liter TDI four-cylinder and 3.0-liter TDI V-6 engines. In a statement to Automotive News, Audi said:

“We are working hard with U.S. regulators to reach an agreement an approved resolution for affected 3.0-liter V-6 TDI vehicles and thank our customers for their continued patience. The Court has scheduled a status conference for November 3, 2016 to discuss the matter further.”

Way back in April, the Volkswagen Group agreed to buy back some 482,000 vehicles of the approximately 600,000 vehicles with the 2.0-liter TDI four-cylinder engine affected by the emissions scandal. This decision did not include the 90,000 vehicles equipped with VW’s 3.0-liter TDI V-6 engine.

Why the 85,000 and 90,000? Because approximately 85,000 Audis are affected by the recall, and an additional 5,000 VW Touaregs are lumped in there as well.

Here’s my scoop on what it’s going to be like going forward for the VW Group regarding diesels:

I wonder how true the horsepower/torque ratings, fuel economy ratings, etc., are heavily re-evaulated by U.S. regulators and EU regulators – Volkswagen is required to send vehicles to both. In 3-5 years, which is likely when the VW Group will send cars to the EPA and EU, the regulations are going to be much stricter and more heavily enforced than today’s CARB (California Air Resources Board; VW Group has to get all of their vehicles to pass U.S. testing, plus CARB) regulations. VW and Audi will almost certainly try to re-certify their vehicles in the next few years to try and recover their losses.

While the 2.0-liter TDI engine might have gone 40 times over the regulatory maximum, the regulatory maximum in the U.S. is one of the lowest in the world. It’s still low levels of emissions. Yes, it’s disgusting that the VW Group had to do this, but we still don’t know the real reason why. It could have been reliability issues with the engine or cost-cutting measures. Let’s say that the regulatory maximum is 0.0001 parts per million, why don’t we? 40 times over that is still not very much.

West Virginia Tech’s test results found that the Volkswagen vehicles they tested (a Jetta and a Passat) were within carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, particulate matter, and total hydrocarbon (THC) emissions compliance. In diesel vehicles, carbon monoxide and THC is never really an issue because of it’s nature of combustion. THC is usually found only in cold starts. NOx always has been the primary concern. Any modern diesel vehicle that hasn’t been tuned to “roll coal” have diesel particulate filters, so rolling coal (particulate matter) isn’t much of a concern. This regulation, however, is not separated for diesel-powered and gasoline-powered vehicles, which means that gasoline-powered vehicles will have higher carbon monoxide emissions than diesel-powered vehicles.

European regulators are saying that numerous other diesel vehicles would fail the same tests that the VWs tested went through. The team at West Virginia Tech is currently testing other diesel vehicles, and are combing through massive amounts of data to quantify what the differences are between real-world driving and certification testing. Just because the certification levels may be low does not necessarily mean that the real-world driving will churn out the same results time-after-time. That difference is always going to be there – whether it be with diesel-powered vehicles, electric vehicles, or gasoline-powered vehicles.