Volkswagen has been told to offer compensation to British motorists hit by the diesel emissions scandal amid warnings that the timetable for fixing cars may be slipping.
The Department for Transport said it was pressing the German car giant to address a “discrepancy in compensation” between Britain and the United States. Motorists in the US have already been given $1,000 (£707) worth of gift vouchers to “encourage loyalty” even though their peers in the UK will receive nothing.
The company claimed that motorists in the US were in a “very different position” to those in Europe because engine configurations were not the same. This means that most US Volkswagen customers would have to wait considerably longer for vehicles to be fixed, it said.
Ministers are understood to be unhappy with the discrepancy and are urging the manufacturer to change tack. Andrew Jones, the roads minister, said the government “expects Volkswagen to treat its UK customers fairly” and confirmed that it was “pressing” the manufacturer to address the issue.
Mr Jones’s comments, in response to a parliamentary question, were made as it emerged that the timetable for fixing cars in Britain and the rest of the EU is already starting to slip. Late last year VW said it was hoping to get approval from the German transport authority in January or February for a procedure to repair 2-litre models. Recall letters would then go out to vehicle owners from the start of this week, it claimed.
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However, VW said yesterday that it had yet to receive approval from the authority, insisting a decision was pending this week or next. It is unlikely that recalls — starting with the 2-litre Passat — will start before the middle of this month.
Any delay will intensify anger over the affair which saw VW fit cheating software to engines in an attempt to deliberately manipulate emissions tests.
At least 11 million cars and vans worldwide were fitted with “defeat devices”, including almost 1.2 million in the UK. The company has now been forced into a global recall, with almost £5 billion set aside to deal with the controversy.
Paul Willis, the company’s British chief executive, said drivers in the US were awarded $1,000 “to encourage loyalty whilst they wait for the technical measures to be developed”. He said UK drivers would not get the same because the cash would be better spent speeding up the repairs process.
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “For VW this is as much a public relations challenge as a technical matter. They urgently need to rebuild trust with their customers. Offering different deals looks like a very odd way to go about it.”