Volkswagen to offer upgrade bonus for old diesel cars

After similar announcements made by BMW, Daimler, Ford and Toyota this week, Volkswagen is the next car manufacturer to offer an upgrade bonus for old diesel cars.

On Friday, the German carmaker, whose brands include Audi, Porsche and Skoda, announced its plan to offer a bonus for those wanting to swap their old diesel cars for newer, cleaner ones.

The bonus program will be available for all cars with the EU emission standards Euro 1 to Euro 4.

The announcement comes on the heels of the diesel summit, during which Volkswagen promised free software upgrades on 5.3 million cars with the newest emission standard Euro 5 and 6. This offer was met with derision by some ministers as well as the public who had hoped for a more expensive retrofitting of hardware.

After it became known in 2015 that the German automaker had manipulated their diesel cars to show lower emissions readings on tests, the company was ordered to reprogram 2.5 million cars, 70 percent of which have already been upgraded.

"The upgrade bonus offers our clients a strong incentive to switch to a more modern and eco-friendly car with a combustion engine or alternative drive technology," said Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller. The move is an effort to "reduce the emission of nitrogen oxides and thus bring down air pollution."

Volkswagen also pledged 500 million euros (592 million U.S. dollars) to a fund which seeks to modernize urban traffic in 28 German regions most affected by pollution.

There is no word yet on the exact amount of the bonus or when it will be made available.