British Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin wants a re-examination of vehicle emission testing in Europe.
“The government takes the unacceptable actions of VW extremely seriously.
“My priority is to protect the public as we go through the process of investigating what went wrong and what we can do to stop it happening again in the future,” he said.
“We have called on the EU to conduct a Europe wide investigation into whether there is evidence that cars here have been fitted with defeat devices.
“In the meantime we are taking robust action. The Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA), the UK regulator, is working with vehicle manufacturers to ensure that this issue is not industry wide.
“As part of this work they will re-run laboratory tests where necessary and compare them against real world driving emissions.”
Amidst growing concerns about vehicle emissions and air quality problems, car manufacturers are being encouraged to offer UK motorists a more comprehensive vehicle choice with the re-introduction of autogas LPG powered models.
Cars running on autogas LPG are significantly cleaner than their diesel and petrol counterparts, emitting 80 percent less NO2 emissions and 98 percent fewer particulates than diesels. These harmful pollutants are a key contributor to the current air quality crisis in the UK which is responsible for more than 29,000 premature deaths each year.
In mainland Europe, more than 17 vehicle manufacturers offer autogas LPG powered models directly from their showroom today, of which some are even manufactured in the UK. However, despite the technology being fully developed and widely embraced across the rest of Europe, no vehicle manufacturers currently offer LPG variants within their UK range.
“For some time we’ve been calling upon vehicle manufacturers to offer UK motorists the same level of choice as those in mainland Europe with the re-introduction of LPG variants into their range,” comments Linda Gomersall, general manager Autogas Limited. “It’s clear from the latest revelations about the emissions that UK businesses and individuals want a credible, cleaner alternative immediately. LPG is a proven, cleaner solution with an established refuelling and servicing infrastructure already in place. We simply need vehicle manufacturers to make LPG ready cars available in the UK and together we can help make a significant improvement to the UK’s air quality.”
More than two thirds (68%) of fleet decision makers believe cars in the UK will be affected and a large number (61%) will expect reimbursement for any resulting recalls in the UK.
Responsible for 2.3 million car registrations in the UK including over 1.7M diesels, fleets are amongst the most powerful and important buyers in the UK car market and they rely on manufacturer claims when making car purchase business decisions.
