Volkswagen offers scrappage discounts on polluting diesel vehicles

Volkswagen is offering discounts on new cars in return for taking older, more polluting diesels off the road.

The company, which was hit with the dieselgate emissions scandal in 2015, said it would offer money off the group's range of new vehicles, including Audi and Seat models, as it looked to replace diesel engines - those in the Euro 1-4 classifications.

The offer will be open from today till 31 December and will mean the owners of older diesels would get up to £6,000 off for the largest vehicles.

The company added that larger discounts were on offer for the purchase of electric and hybrid models as they could be combined with existing government grant offers.

According to commentators though, VW's UK scheme fell short of the terms offered to drivers in its home market.

In Germany, scrappage discounts worth around £9,000 are on offer on pressure from the government following a top-level summit involving the industry, which aimed to cut pollution on the country's roads.

According to the company, it was focusing its development work on a new electric future after dieselgate.

In case of drivers opting for its electrified models, they will also benefit from the government's £4,500 grant for low-emission vehicles, meaning customers could save as much as £10,000 on one of VW's new £32,000 e-Golfs.

The move comes after a similar offer by Toyota, which offered UK customers as much as £4,000 to trade in their polluting cars for new ones.

Similar offers have been made by Ford, BMW, Hyundai and Mercedes.

Two years ago VW admitted to cheating on emissions tests, affecting 11 million of its vehicles.

The company also faces EU accusation of teaming up with other German car giants to breach EU cartel rules.