VW Urged to Buy Back Its Old Diesels in U.S.

Volkswagen AG is being pressured to buy back at least a portion of the diesel-powered cars it sold in the U.S. that were rigged to cheat emission tests.

The company is meeting with the California Air Resources Board today to present a plan to fix affected diesels in the state. Eligible models include the Audi A3 small sedan and VW brand Beetle, Golf, Jetta and Passat cars.

CARB Chair Mary Nichols tells today’s Handelsblatt it’s “quite likely” VW will buy back at least some of the noncompliant cars in the U.S.

Separately, Democratic Senators Ed Markey (Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) are urging VW to offer all affected owners the option of selling their cars back to the company at a price equal to their value before VW’s cheating was disclosed in September. The senators note VW has indicated it will offer a similar plan in Europe for owners of cars with overstated fuel economy ratings.

VW has said that many of the 482,000 defective diesels it sold in the U.S. over the past six years can be brought into compliance with software updates. But the oldest models will require costly additional hardware and revised fuel system components.