California regulators reject Volkswagen recall plan

On Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board announced that VW had not yet submitted a recall and fix plan that met the agencies’ approval.

The company on Tuesday said it remained committed to coming up with a recall plan that will meet California’s requirements.

In a statement, the EPA said that to-date, the Germany automaker “has not submitted an approvable recall plan to bring the vehicles into compliance and reduce pollution”.

The regulators have also rejected VW’s request for more time to finalize a fix, however, CARB did clarify that the rejection does not preclude a recall.

The EPA says Volkswagen is responsible for almost 600,000 diesel-powered vehicles that are now producing harmful air pollution in the U.S. But federal regulators have not shied away in recent days from publicly expressing their frustration with the company.

Early Monday morning in Detroit, VW North America President Michael Horn repeated that message.

Volkswagen chief executive Matthias Mueller told journalists on Sunday in Detroit that he will present a package of “appropriate technical solutions” when he meets with EPA administrator Gina McCarthy on Wednesday.

Volkswagen is set to invest a further $900 million at its Chattanooga, Tennessee factory to build a new mid-sized sport utility vehicle that is expected to roll of the assembly line by the end of this year. Corker said VW views the meeting with EPA as “very important”.

“Mr. Mueller recognizes that his choice of words in trying to respond – in English – to questions about the conduct of VW with respect to the emissions issues may have resulted in some confusion”, VW said in a written statement.

Mr Muller this week apologised over the scandal as he prepared to visit the US. The scandal – dubbed dieselgate – led to the dismissal of VW CEO Martin Winterkorn, as well as several high-ranking engineers. The proposals also failed to address how the fix would affect the engine’s performance, emissions and vehicle safety. Just last week, a German paper reported that Volkswagen is considering buying more than 115,000 affected vehicles back from consumers in the U.S. because recalling and fixing the cars would be too costly.

“This is not a major setback”, said Rebecca Lindland, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book. “This details have not been worked out…. The reasons for the rejection involve needing more details and specifications”, she said in a statement.