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VW May Abandon Diesel Option in U.S. Market

Volkswagen AG hasn’t decided whether to reintroduce diesels in the American market after having them banned 12 months ago for cheating on emission laws.

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Volkswagen AG hasn’t decided whether to reintroduce diesels in the American market after having them banned 12 months ago for cheating on emission laws.

The company’s U.S. market share in January-August slipped to 1.8% from 2.1% in the same period in 2015 because of the government ban, says The Wall Street Journal. The carmaker reached a $10.6 billion agreement in July to fix or buy back 475,000 affected diesels. Another 85,000 models equipped with larger diesels remain in regulatory limbo.

In the meantime, VW has not yet been cleared by federal regulators to resume sales of any new and presumably legal diesel-powered models.

Hinrich Woebcken, who heads VW operations in North America, says the company will review the future of diesels in the U.S. on a model-by-model basis. The carmaker is shifting its marketing strategy to include more hybrids and all-electric models. The Journal says VW also has hiked sales incentives on its gasoline models 31% to help offset lost diesel volume.

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