Volkswagen lawyer says 3.0L diesel cars will likely be fixed, not bought back

A fix would keep Volkswagen from having to shell out for another 85,000 cars. 

Megan Geuss

We Like Cars

A lawyer for Volkswagen Group told a US district judge today that the company will probably be able to fix the 85,000 outstanding 3.0L diesel Porches, Audis, and Volkswagens that were also discovered to flout emissions regulations, following revelations that nearly 500,000 2.0L diesel vehicles were built with illegal emissions cheating software.

The 3.0L diesels were not included in Tuesday’s news that Volkswagen would spend $10 billion to buy back diesel cars that were spewing up to 40 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxide (NO_x). The 3.0L cars were discovered two months after the first revelations of cheating and have since been on a separate track. VW Group contests that its 3.0L cars did not cheat on federal emissions tests in the same way that the 2.0L engines did, although the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has asserted that the cars in question were built with illegal auxiliary devices to circumvent emissions regulations.

Reuters reports that US District Judge Charles Breyer asked that VW Group provide and update on this fix on August 25, but the judge has not yet given VW Group a firm deadline to present a fix to US regulators. VW Group’s lawyer told the judge that the fix the company is currently working on would not be complicated or impact the cars’ performance greatly.

The diesel versions of Volkswagen Touaregs, Porsche Cayennes, and Audi A6s, A7 Quattros, A8s, Q5s, and Q7s are the cars implicated in VW Group’s second, smaller scandal.

If Volkswagen can find a fix for these 85,000 cars on US roads that satisfies the EPA and California’s Air Resources Board (CARB), that could potentially save billions in buybacks.