VW to recall 8.5 million vehicles in Europe
Volkswagen announced last night that it would recall around 8.5 million diesel-engine cars in the European Union after Germany requested the servicing of the vehicles following the scandal over rigged emissions tests. This came after Germany's automotive watchdog, the Federal Motor Transport Authority, ordered Volkswagen to recall 2.4 million vehicles, on Thursday morning. The watchdog rejected the voluntary recall of vehicles put forward by Volkswagen in a plan submitted this month. The Authority are demanding the recall should begin early next year, and be mandatory, so owners will not have a choice regarding whether or not to return their vehicles for servicing and updating.

BERLIN — Reacting to pressure from German regulators, Volkswagen on Thursday recalled its entire fleet of rigged diesel cars in Europe, as the carmaker scrambles to come up with a remedy for its emissions cheating.

While a broad recall has been expected, the move reflects the difficulty that Volkswagen faces in fixing the 11 million vehicles worldwide that contain a so-called defeat device, which effectively lowered emissions for testing purposes. The company is indicating that the repairs may stretch beyond the end of 2016.

Volkswagen had submitted a plan last week to German regulators, outlining repairs to three models of diesel engines that largely involved updating the vehicles’ software. But the country’s authorities considered the plan insufficient and ordered the company to recall 2.4 million vehicles on Thursday; Volkswagen later in the day adopted the German order more broadly, announcing a recall of 8.5 million diesel cars across Europe.

German regulators have given Volkswagen until the end of November to lay out the technical details of the remedy. Volkswagen said it would begin recalling and repairing the German cars in January.