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Audi will offer A3 TDI owners same goodwill package

Audi will offer a Goodwill Package, similar to the one Volkswagen has offered owners, for the German brand's emissions-cheating diesel four-cylinder engine. Participating customers will receive a $500 prepaid Visa, a $500 gift card for Audi dealers, and three years of 24-hour roadside assistance. "We are offering this Audi A3 TDI Goodwill Package as a sincere token of our appreciation for your patience," the company wrote on its customer website. This offer will only extend to the A3 TDI. A second EPA violation covers an estimated 85,000 vehicles in the US with VW's Group's 3.0-liter TDI V6 like the 2016 A6, A7, A8 and Q5, and the models are also under a stop sale. However, these owners aren't eligible for the Goodwill Package at this time. "Audi is currently investigating the allegations" against the six-cylinder engines, according to the explanation on the site's FAQ. Owners need to register their VIN on the company's website to apply for the Goodwill Package. They'll receive the items in the mail around four weeks later, but will then need to take the affected vehicle and the package to the dealer to activate the cards. Like the VW program, people have until April 30, 2016, to apply for the offer. VW Group of America CEO Michael Horn said last week around 120,000 people already registered for the brand's Goodwill Package. Related Video:

Germany to accept diesel software fix rather than retrofit millions of cars

BERLIN — The German government will not force the car industry to make costly changes to engines to cut diesel emissions but will settle for software updates for around 2 million vehicles, industry and government sources said on Tuesday. The sources were speaking before a summit of politicians and car executives scheduled for Wednesday to discuss ways to cut inner-city pollution to try to head off bans on diesel cars — a sensitive issue ahead of national elections next month. The summit must also start to restore the reputation of one of Germany's major industries which has been badly tarnished since the Volkswagen emissions scandal broke in September 2015. The auto industry has agreed to software updates for around 2 million cars that will cost around 300 million euros ($354 million), a government source said. An industry source said foreign car makers had not agreed to participate for now. The deal suggests the industry has headed off demands for hardware upgrades that would cut more pollution but would also be much more expensive — with the potential costs as high as 10 billion euros. The deal also foresees a range of other measures to reduce emissions, the sources said, such as subsidies for electric buses, taxis and other municipal vehicles, as well as a commitment to increase the number of charging stations. The sector and the government will each contribute half to a 500 million euro fund aimed at helping local governments reduce pollution, blamed for causing respiratory diseases. CITY BANS The compromise might not cut emissions enough to stop bans of diesel cars in German cities - like the one in Stuttgart confirmed by a regional court last week. DUH, the environmental lobby group that brought the Stuttgart case, has said it wants moves to go beyond voluntary software updates or it will take further legal action. Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives have come under fire from consumer and environmental groups as well as opposition lawmakers for their close links to carmakers. "The car industry can always rely on the support of the government when things get difficult," said Timo Lange, a campaigner with LobbyControl, a non-profit group. Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt rejected suggestions on Tuesday that he is too closely tied to the industry. The Environment Ministry has already made clear that software improvements can only be a first step as they reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by about 25 percent on average.

German automakers' stocks fall as EU investigates collusion

BERLIN/FRANKFURT - Volkswagen will hold a special supervisory board meeting on Wednesday to discuss allegations that German carmakers operated a wide-ranging cartel, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday. The European Commission said on Saturday antitrust regulators were investigating a possible German auto industry cartel following a tipoff. At stake is whether carmakers VW, Audi, Porsche, Mercedes and BMW used German auto industry committees to discuss pricing of components and technologies, and whether such talks constituted anti-competitive behavior. A VW spokesman confirmed an extraordinary supervisory board meeting would be held on Wednesday but declined to give details. German auto stocks took a hit in early trading on Monday, weighed down by uncertainty over possible antitrust fines after European regulators said they were probing cartel allegations. VW shares were down 2.8 percent, with Daimler and BMW down 3.4 percent and 2.5 percent respectively, lagging the blue-chip DAX index, which was 0.7 percent lower. Exane BNP Paribas automotive analyst Stuart Pearson said little was known about the allegations, but no signs had emerged about fixing prices charged to consumers. "More ugly details could yet emerge, leaving German manufacturers - and the EU auto sector - still firmly in the sin bin for now," he added. The car industry has been hit with billion-euro fines on both sides of the Atlantic in recent years for cartels related to various parts such as lighting systems, engine coolers and bearings. The industry's record on exhaust emissions is also under close scrutiny after VW admitted in September 2015 to cheating U.S. diesel emissions tests and investigations have shown many vehicles exceeding pollution limits outside of testing labs. On Friday, German magazine Der Spiegel said VW, its Audi and Porsche brands, Mercedes-owner Daimler and BMW may have colluded to fix prices on components, including of diesel emissions treatment systems, using industry committees. Spiegel said the talks also led to the use of smaller tanks containing AdBlue, a urea-based liquid needed to help filter nitrogen oxides (NOx) from diesel emissions. Larger tanks would have been more expensive, the magazine said. Auto industry experts, however, have said the effectiveness of exhaust filtering systems does not depend on the size of an AdBlue Tank. BMW, for example, has equipped its cars with urea injection as well as a NOx-storage catalytic converter.