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With pressure building in Germany to clean up city-centre air quality, and with particular pressure being put on diesel cars (including bans from certain city centres) Volkswagen says that it is increasing the incentives it pays to owners of older diesel cars to trade-up.
Higher scrappage incentives will be paid to those owners of Euro1 to Euro5 compliant diesels living in the 14 cities identified by authorities as having the worst levels of air pollution. Each of the Volkswagen Group's brands will announce special offers individually, but the offers are open to owners of any brand of diesel-engined car. Depending on the car being traded-in and the specific deal, scrappage will be available to those both buying new, and nearly-new.
Dr. Christian Dahlheim, Head of Group Sales: "The Volkswagen Group is making a significant contribution to improving air quality in German cities with this comprehensive package of fleet renewal measures. We are thus supporting the federal government's efforts to prevent possible driving bans and offering our customers unrestricted individual mobility."
Volkswagen claims that between August 2017 and June 2018, when it ran its first diesel scrappage campaign, more than 210,000 older diesel-engined cars were taken off the roads, and that some 10,000 tonnes of nitrogen dioxide (the harmful, cancer-causing gas associated with diesel emissions) have been removed from the air.
According to Volkswagen: "Independent studies, including that by the PTV Group, at the Centre Automotive Research of the University Duisburg- Essen, indicate that fleet renewal is the most effective lever for swiftly improving air quality. In 2017 alone, 1.1 million low-emission new Euro6 diesel vehicles took to the roads in Germany, replacing old vehicles. While the annual average limit value for nitrogen dioxide was exceeded in more than 65 cities in 2017, this is expected to be the case in only 30 cities by the end of 2018. As fleet renewal progresses, every second diesel vehicle is expected to be a Euro6 model by 2021."