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Switzerland slaps VW cars with registration ban

George Mills
George Mills - [email protected]
Switzerland slaps VW cars with registration ban
The temporary ban affects both new cars and second-hand cars coming in to Switzerland from foreign countries. Photo:AFP

Switzerland has placed a temporary ban on the registration of cars with diesel engines manufactured by the Volkswagen group in the wake of a scandal over the use of cheating software by the company.

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The ban will affect Audi, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen cars with 1,2l TDI, 1,6l TDI and 2,0l TDI type diesel engines manufactured from 2009 to 2014 which have never before been registered in Switzerland.

It affects both new cars and second-hand cars coming in to Switzerland from foreign countries.

The prohibition will come into force on October 5th, the Federal Roads Office (Fedro) said in a statement.

The ban comes after VW sparked global outrage when it admitted that 11 million of its diesel cars worldwide are fitted with so-called defeat devices that activate pollution controls during tests but covertly turn them off when the car is on the road.

German prosecutors have said they are looking into goings-on at the Volkswagen Group but are yet to target any individuals who may have been involved in the growing emissions scandal.

Volkswagen group car importer AMAG on Monday said more than 128,800 diesel cars on the road in Switzerland were fitted with a software program designed to cheat emissions tests.

The models implicated include Audi, Seat, Skoda, Volkswagen and VW utility makes using an EA 189 diesel engine.

But the total, based on an internal evaluation by Volkswagen, does not include cars sold by independent Swiss garages, said AMAG, which is the exclusive importer of VW products into Switzerland.

The importer said owners of the impacted vehicles will be individually contacted about technical solutions to correct the emissions problem and dates will be set for getting the work done at different dealerships.

Volkswagen pledged that the work would be done at no cost to owners.

It added that cars impacted by the scandal remain mechanically sound and roadworthy.

Amag said it had decided to immediately halt the sales of several hundred new cars requiring emissions modifications.

 

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