BERLIN -- Volkswagen will extend trade-in incentives to owners of older vehicles across Germany, expanding the program beyond the 15 most heavily polluted cities.
Under pressure to avert bans of diesel vehicles in key cities, automakers have started offering trade-in incentives to encourage customers to scrap older diesel vehicles for more modern cleaner vehicles.
VW said it is expanding the exchange incentive for replacing older diesel vehicles to cover all of Germany from Jan. 24 until April 30. When trading in a Euro 4 or Euro 5 vehicle from any automaker, the bonus is paid in addition to the used car value, VW said in a statement.
The trade-in incentive was previously limited to Germany's 15 most polluted cities.
German automakers have already agreed to spend up to 3,000 euros ($3,431) per vehicle to upgrade engine management software to make exhaust filtering systems more effective, but environmentalists say these measures are insufficient.
