The Brazilian government has levied a BRL50-million (USD13 million) fine on Volkswagen (VW) over the diesel engine defeat devices. The fine was the highest amount allowable under Brazilian law. The automaker has also been ordered to recall the affected vehicles, and to correct the software issue in each of the Amarok trucks without impacting the performance of the engine.
Significance: The only vehicle VW sold in Brazil with the engines involved was the Amarok, but the government has levied the highest fine that it could. However, Brazil's government also indicated that the gasoline (petrol) and flex-fuel engines in other VW products are not affected. There is no clear deadline set for when VW must correct the affected vehicles, and it is not clear what the consequences will be if the trucks are not repaired in a timely manner. Given the relatively low number of vehicles involved, the fine is nearly BRL3,000 per truck. VW has not yet announced a plan for correcting the issue on any of the affected vehicles, in any country. Recent media reports have suggested VW believes it may take up to a year to develop a fix for all of the engines impacted; the company has said that some engines will require both software and hardware modifications, and others will require only a software update.
