Volkswagen loses 'green car of the year' awards

Green Car Journal announced it was rescinding the 2009 prize for the Volkswagen Jetta TDI and the 2010 prize for the Audi A3 TDI after the German carmaker admitted that it intentionally deceived government regulators overseeing air emissions rules

New York: Volkswagen has lost its “Green Car of the Year” prize for two models that employed technology at the heart of the German giant’s pollution-cheating scandal, US prize organisers said.

A file pic from March 2014 shows Martin Winterkorn (L) then CEO of Volkswagen, and Volkswagen CFO Hans Dieter Poetsch. Poetsch will be proposed to take over as supervisory board chief

Green Car Journal announced it was rescinding the 2009 prize for the Volkswagen Jetta TDI and the 2010 prize for the Audi A3 TDI in the wake of Volkswagen’s acknowledgement that it intentionally deceived the regulators overseeing air emissions rules.

“These models were selected as Green Car of the Year above others for compelling reasons, including high fuel efficiency, reduced carbon emissions, a fun-to-drive nature, and the ability to meet 50 state emissions requirements with advanced diesel technology,” said Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of the Green Car Journal.

A measuring hose for emissions inspections in diesel engines sticks in the exhaust tube of a Volkswagen car at a garage in Germany on October 1. Pics/AFP

Rescinding the awards is “unfortunate but appropriate,” he said in announcing the first such action in the 10-year-old award program.

Both Audi and Volkswagen agreed with the decision, according to a Green Car Journal statement.

“Audi has won hundreds of races and thousands of awards throughout its history,” said Audi of America President Scott Keogh. He further said, “But we only want to win fair and square. Therefore, in light of recent developments, we believe the only right thing to do is to return this important recognition of environmental stewardship.”

VW has been under fire since US environmental regulators announced on September 18 that the company had violated air-quality rules by installing software on nearly 500,000 diesel cars intended to evade US emissions limits for nitrogen oxide and other pollutants.

Volkswagen, the world’s biggest carmaker by sales, has admitted that up to 11 million diesel cars worldwide are fitted with so-called “cheat devices” that can switch on pollution controls when they detect the car is undergoing testing. Hans Dieter Poetsch, Volkswagen’s finance chief will be proposed to take over as supervisory board chief, as VW shifted up a gear in its plans to recall millions of cars.

VW faces up to $8 billion (Rs 52,000 crore) in fines from the US Environmental Protection Agency over the fraud, and a growing number of lawsuits.

$ 8billion
The fines imposed on VW by the US Environmental Protection Agency

11million
The number of diesel cars worldwide fitted with “cheat devices”

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