Volkswagen India stops delivery of Polo hatchbacks due to technical reasons

On October 7, 2015, German automotive manufacturer Volkswagen India Pvt. Ltd. asked its dealers to stop delivery of all variants of the Polo hatchback with immediate effect. A statement issued by the company spokesperson of Volkswagen Passenger Cars India said “Volkswagen India has confirmed a temporary hold on deliveries of its carline Polo due to a technical reason which is currently under evaluation. This concerns a limited number of cars out of a specific production period. Volkswagen further confirms that deliveries for the non-impacted Polo range continue as per schedule. Volkswagen would like to clarify that the temporary hold on deliveries is not related to the ongoing EA 189 diesel engine topic.”

A letter signed by Ashish Gupta, Head of After Sales Operations, Volkswagen Passenger Cars and Pankaj Sharma, Head of Sales Operations, Volkswagen Passenger Cars which said “not to physically deliver any Polo vehicle (All Variants) with immediate effect till further notice form VW” was sent to their dealer partners.

VW is currently investigating the impact of the emission scam on Indian operations. The Indian vehicle testing agency ARAI has been asked by the Government of India to investigate if Volkswagen has manipulated any emissions tests in India. ARAI has asked the company to present any and all data related to cars sold in India with the EA189 engine. The Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise has asked ARAI to submit their report by the end of the month.

Volkswagen is still in the midst of dealing with the emissions scandal which was uncovered by US authorities. The scam involved manipulations by the company which resulted in violations of the emission norms. Revelations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the US stated that VW has dodged environmental rules for which the penalty could run up to more than 18 billion US dollars. This could potentially result in the recall of more than 11 million cars built by Volkswagen group anywhere between 2009 and 2015.