Austria, Carmakers Agree To Update Software of 600,000 Diesel Cars (reuters.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Austria's Transport Minister Joerg Leichtfried said on Tuesday he had agreed with carmakers to update the software of 600,000 diesel cars to reduce pollution following a similar deal struck in Germany after a large-scale emissions scandal. Leichtfried said the deal also included extra payments to buyers of more environmentally friendly cars. He said that for potential buyers of electric cars all available financial help could add up to around 10,000 euros ($11,750) per vehicle. The exact amount of incentives, which will come in addition to existing government sweeteners for e-car buyers, will be decided and paid by the carmakers depending on the model of the vehicle exchanged for an old car, the spokesman of Austrian car importers association Guenther Kerle said.

Comments

Misleading

[nospam007]

Since there are no Austrian car makers, it would be car importers agreeing to do that.

Re:Misleading

[thegarbz]

Do you even comma man?

Steyr

[nukenerd]

Since there are no Austrian car makers ....

Steyr. They made my Jeep.

1989 Mercedes-Benz 300D

[Anonymous Coward]

Will still be going strong in another 30 years. Modernists BTFO.
My apt captcha: "subsidy"

Re:1989 Mercedes-Benz 300D

[Anonymous Coward]

My even more apt captcha: "gofuckyourself"

More importantly

[cyber-vandal]

Are they making them kangaroo-proof?

thanks

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Germany is going down

[mspohr]

This scandal is reaching into upper management and threatens the entire German economy.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/0...

Re:Germany is going down

[Anonymous Coward]

It's interesting that the scandal has had so much more consequences for German car makers than it has had elsewhere. I am not aware of a single Renault, Ford, GM or Fiat employee fired or suspended over emissions shenanigans, despite the fact that they all have produced cars real-world emissions much worse than those from VW, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

Germans may be a little more environment-minded than many other countries and Germany is much more likely to prosecute a German company than e.g. France to prosecute a French company or the USA to prosecute an American company, but still the difference is startling. Dozens of Volkswagen managers and engineers have been sacked and quite a few are suspects of a criminal investigation that seems to be expanding and reaches the news very often. Meanwhile, the French have been extremely silent since they started their investigations into Renault and Peugeot (that only started after it leaked out that evidence against Renault had been removed from an official investigation) and Italy refused any criminal investigations against Fiat Chrysler even after they had been handed the evidence. Until recently, it seemed Ford was getting away as well, but then the KBA (Federal Motor Vehicle Agency) started probing the Mondeo, but I would be surprised if the consequences reached beyond the German branch of Ford.

Still, I think the claims about major economic damage are wildly exaggerated tabloid journalism. The scandal has been going on for two years now and consumers seem to care far less than the press. Even Volkswagen, the only car manufacturer stupid enough to openly admit to have sold cars with emissions cheats, and for a time protrayed by the media as being the only one to have done so, has had record sales and profits in 2016 and 2017 YTD. The threat of driving restrictions in some cities has had consequences for the market share of diesel cars, mainly in Germany, but that as such is not a problem for the car industry or the economy in general, provided that they make up for it with sales of other low-CO2 cars to still meet the 2020 targets. The driving restrictions have also become less likely since this month's diesel summit, with manufacturers pledging to recall Euro 5 and 6 cars and offering a terribly wasteful, but on paper effective scrappage scheme for older cars.

electric cars

[Tom]

I bought a new car just now, and incidentally, I live in Austria.

Here's why it wasn't an electric car, despite me checking both Tesla Model S and Hyundai Ionic, i.e. both ends of the spectrum.

These are cool cars, but just not there, yet. The Hyundai is the better value for money, but lacks range (200 km, that's a city car, useless for any serious travel). The Tesla has the most amazing acceleration I've ever seen in any car, ever, by far. But for a car this price, I expect a better designed interior. The decision to go all-out touchscreen is crazy, and a navigation system without speech output? In a 100,000 Euro car? You're kidding me?

Electric cars are a gimmick at this point, sadly. Manufacturers are testing the waters, mostly with smaller cars. There are no serious electric cars on the market at this time. I would've bought one if there were.

Not all car makers will provide updates

[Anonymous Coward]

From the article:

The Transport Ministry said representatives of Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Kia, Ford, Renault, Porsche, Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), Audi, Seat, Skoda, Hyundai, Mitsubishi Motors and Opel attended the meeting.

VW, Mercedes, Renault and possibly BMW will undertake the software updates, and the others will just take part in the incentives programme, the ministry said.

So except for Renault, only cars that already have relatively low real-world emissions will be updated. Chryslers, Fiats, Fords, Hyundais, Kias, Opels and Suzukis, which tend to have the highest emissions in road tests, along with Renaults and Nissans, won't. On the other hand, the four manufacturers that do provide updates probably form the overwhelming majority of the Austrian market, so it won't be completely pointless, but more could have been gained by also updating the largest emitters.

Re:Not all car makers will provide updates

[Anonymous Coward]

Here is the current ranking of average real-world emissions by manufacturer. Only BMW, the Volkswagen brands and Mercedes-Benz meet Euro 6 (the current emissions norm) in practice. Cars made by Renault, Fiat, Ford and Hyundai/Kia have the highest emissions.