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Paper trail: Volkswagen Group Australia managing director Michael Bartsch has hit out at criticism from the ACCC.

VOLKSWAGEN Group Australia (VGA) managing director Michael Bartsch has labelled comments directed at the car-maker last week by Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) boss Rod Sims as “unfortunate”, as the class action against VW moves towards a court date in October.

One of the two legal firms behind the class action against VGA, Maurice Blackburn, presented an affidavit to the Federal Court last week that contained waivers allegedly issued to Volkswagen owners affected by the diesel recall.

The waivers are said to contain language that would indemnify VW from any further action once the customer’s car was fixed under the conditions of the voluntary recall, but VGA claims that the out-of-date forms were issued by a dealership in error.

Mr Sims, speaking with  ABC Online, labelled Volkswagen’s conduct as “outrageous” and urged anyone who had received such a form to contact the ACCC.

Speaking with journalists in Sydney this week, Mr Bartsch said that the relationship between Volkswagen and the ACCC and other government bodies – including the department of infrastructure and regional development (DIRD) – is sound.

“Both parties, of course, have certain interests that they need to protect, bit I think the fairest way to sum it up is a professional, cordial relationship,” said Mr Bartsch.

He suggested that the law firms behind the action – which also includes Bannister Law – were “entrepreneurial litigants” who “would create an environment that is as favourable as they possibly make for their case.

Rod Sims

“The class action has its challenges,” he said. “Not because we believe that there’s any change in position; we’re very firm in our position that we have not breached in Australia any environmental standards.”

Mr Bartsch placed the onus of the documentation issue on his dealer network, and suggested “people can become unintended mouthpieces of vested interests”.

He was measured in his response to Mr Sims’ criticism.

“I think that’s unfortunate language,” he said.

“Mr Sims is entitled to his opinion; however, what I can say is that every effort has been made and repeatedly made with our dealers, to make sure all the protocols are adhered to and vetted by our legal department, and we’re constantly reinforcing that.

“We have 103 dealers and 3000 employees in those dealerships, and there is always the exception to the rule. There is always something you can find to use as the foundation of a case.”

The recall of cars affected by the diesel defeat device software scandal is progressing “seamlessly”, according to Mr Bartsch, with 60,000 of the 90,000 affected cars now covered by voluntary recall notices.

VW Australia officials said that some 14,500 cars have been updated with new software, or about 17 per cent of the total.

“The recall is completely in line with expectations, as people are lining it up to coincide with services,” said Mr Bartsch.

“We will do everything possible to get people in to do it, because it does not affect the performance of the vehicle. The fixes have been approved by DIRD, the ACC and the (German motor transport authority) KBA.”

Mr Bartsch acknowledged that the scandal – which last week saw the head office of the VW Group book almost $9 billion in charges against 2016’s $19 billion group-wide operating profit – has cost the company from a reputational point of view.

“We lost some ground there in the first half of last year, and we have some work to do to recover from this issue at a global level,” he said. “Resale rates, depreciation rates (of local cars) are still okay – I don’t want to make statements that are an overgeneralisation, but those numbers speak for themselves.

“Some 800,000 vehicles from two Japanese manufacturers were recalled last year – we have to put this into perspective.”

By Tim Robson

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