Volkswagen urged to do more amid emission scandal

Elzbieta Bienkowska, the European Union's (EU) Commissioner for Industry, has demanded that Volkswagen do more in response to the company's international emissions cheating scandal, local media reported on Friday.

In a letter to all EU ministers of transport, Bienkowska said that she "expected a recall rate of 100 percent from Volkswagen."

The Commissioner urged national authorities to force Volkswagen to take thousands of diesel vehicles back which had allegedly only passed emissions tests with the help of illegal software.

Cars which fail to meet EU norms "must be removed from traffic", she said.

Bienkowska had written the Wolfsburg-based company's CEO Matthias Mueller on June 19, asking him to provide "detailed data" on the status quo of recalls.

"So far, I have received no answer from Volkswagen," she said.

Bienkowska recently also accused German authorities of failure surrounding the widening of the emissions cheating scandal to Daimler AG, the owner of the famous "Mercedes-Benz" brand.

She described it as "worrying" that the newest accusations had not been discovered by national traffic authorities. Bienkowska voiced similar concerns over further cases of suspected emissions cheating within the Volkswagen brands Audi and Porsche.

The German automotive industry has suffered a heavy blow to its reputation following revelations that carmakers falsified vehicles' emission levels during test conditions with the help of illicit software.

Volkswagen AG was the first German carmaker which was revealed to have engaged in such "emission cheating" for its diesel vehicles in 2015. A U.S. federal judge ruled in April 2017 that Volkswagen must pay "2.8 billion dollar criminal fine for rigging diesel-powered vehicles to cheat on government emission tests."

As recently as last week, new allegations were made against Daimler. The German Minister of Transport Alexander Dobrindt has ordered an investigation and went as far as to raise the possibility of driving bans for diesel cars. Daimler subsequently announced the recall of 3 million Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

Volkswagen CEO Mueller hit back after Bienkowska's comments, accusing governments and the European Union of running an "intense campaign against diesel motors".

Mueller told the "Neue Zuercher Zeitung" that diesel motors were being misrepresented and called for an "objective, balanced discussion".

Following the publication of the EU commissions letter, the "Handelsblatt" reports that Volkswagen brand Audi has announced the recall of up to 850,000 vehicles in Europe and markets other than North America.

Audi emphasized that the recall would not incur any costs for customers and described the upgrade as a "service".

The goal was to make diesel motors fit for the future, contribute to reducing air pollution and avoid the imposition of driving bans, Audi said in a statement.