Dieselgate Fallout; VW To Equip Its Petrol Cars With Particulate Filters

With the 'dieselgate' scandal still hovering over Volkswagen, the German automaker will pull all stops to plug the leak. The auto major will fit particulate filters on its petrol cars starting 2017, these will include the VW Tiguan and Audi A5 to start off.

So what is particulate filters? The filter is a device designed to remove minute particles found in fuel which could cause emission and increase the carbon levels.

Volkswagen hopes to equip up to 7 million VW vehicles every year with this technology by 2022. "We are continuing our intensive efforts to enhance the environmental compatibility of our diesel and gasoline models," said Mathias Muller, CEO, Volkswagen AG.

He also said, "We will successively equip the Group's new TSI and TFSI engines with gasoline particulate filters. This initiative will begin with the 1.4-liter TSI engine* in the new VW Tiguan and the Audi A5 in June 2017. This will reduce particulate emissions by up to 90 percent. Up to 7 million Volkswagen vehicles could be equipped with this technology each year by 2022."

The German auto major claimed that the filters will help reduce carbon emission by up to 90 percent. The CEO made these announcements during the groups 'Together - Strategy 2025', at the AGM with the shareholders held at Hannover on Wednesday.

The particulate filters are on the Volkswagen diesel vehicles sold since 2008, now they want to equip it in the petrol cars. The petrol cars are considered to emit lesser carbon levels compared to diesel vehicles, however, petrol engine emit carbon and VW wants to make sure these are addressed.This announcement comes amid the image makeover from the VW group after the scandal broke out.