VW Considers Extending €9,000 Diesel Incentives In Germany

Volkswagen is currently looking into the possibility of extending their trade-in incentives to owners of older vehicles across Germany, thus expanding the program beyond the country’s 15 most heavily polluted cities.

Automakers in Germany are under heavy pressure to avert diesel bans in key cities, and have already started offering trade-in incentives to customers willing to ditch older diesel models in favor of newer and cleaner ones, reports Automotive News Europe.

According to a VW spokesman, the company’s board committee is examining a limited time nationwide trade-in incentive program for Euro 4 or Euro 5 diesel vehicles. A decision is expected to come sometime this week.

Back in October, VW said that it would offer its buyers an incentive if they agreed to move on from cars equipped with Euro 1 to Euro 4 engines – the offer being limited to Germany’s 15 most polluted cities, as previously stated.

Now, the company is considering extending the trade-in incentive to the entire country, with the German Daily Bild reporting that details are still being worked out, but that the most likely scenario would see VW pay up to 9,000 euros ($10,200) per car.

German automakers have already agreed on a plan to spend up to 3,000 euros ($3,431) per vehicle in order to upgrade its engine management software and make exhaust filtering systems more effective. However, environmentalists have argued that such measures are insufficient, a feeling shared by suppliers as well as certain carmakers, such as BMW.