The Volkswagen Group has confirmed it will recall a total of approximately 8.5m vehicles in Europe (EU28 markets), including some 2.4m vehicles in Germany, as part of its rectification measures following the diesel emissions scandal that originated in the US.

Outside the EU28, each individual country will clarify in detail which emissions classes of the EA 189 engine are in fact affected.

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VW says that work on the technical solutions detailed in its plan of measures is currently “proceeding at full speed”. Remedial action on the vehicles affected will begin in January 2016. The technical solutions can involve software as well as hardware measures, it says, and these are currently being developed for each affected series and each affected model year.

All measures will first be presented to the responsible authorities and Volkswagen says it will subsequently inform the owners of the vehicles “over the next weeks and months”.

VW says that customers "now have clarity with regard to the continued unrestricted use of the vehicles". All of the vehicles affected remain technically safe and roadworthy, it says, adding that the current successor generation of EA 288 diesel engines (in use since 2012) is not affected.

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