US and California regulators have approved a fix for about 38,000 Volkswagen Generation 2.1 and 2.2 3.0L TDI V6 vehicles.
The 38,000 cars include not only Volkswagen models, but also from its affiliates such as Audi and Porsche as well.
The approval allows the German automaker to come closer to resolve the diesel-gate scandal which has proven to be one of the costliest recalls ever.
The scandal involved more than 550,000 vehicles in the US and 11 million worldwide, where the vehicles were programmed to give out less emissions only during testing.
As per the regulatory permission, Volkswagen will fix 3.0L TDI V6 engines to comply with the emission standards, for which they certified in the first place.
This move is expected to save at least $1bn for the automaker, as it will need not buy-back any luxury vehicle in the model years 2013- 2016 for Porsche Cayenne, Volkswagen Touareg and 2013-2015 Audi Q7 sport utility vehicles.
The company, last year agreed to pay up to $15bn in settlement, where the company had to buyback or fix 475,000 2L diesel cars in the country.
It still needs to receive approval to fix the 3L diesel versions of Audi A6, A7 and A8 sedans and Q5 SUV.
KSDK stated that not all of the company’s cars can be fixed and this requires buy-back of at least 20,000 older vehicles with 3L engines, manufactured between 2009 and 2012. The owners of those cars will be paid compensation between $7,755 and $13,880.
As part of the compensation for the scandal, last year the automaker had committed to invest in ultra-low emissions and zero-emissions vehicles. It has plans to bring out more than 30 electric vehicles by 2025 and produce 2 to 3 million of them per year. It has also committed to spend $2bn in electric charging infrastructure across the US.
