Car manufacturer Volkswagen announced on Monday that it is set to recall almost 2,000 of its diesel engine cars sold in China to correct a software that was purposely installed to fool emission testers. The largest European car maker had earlier admitted that millions of its vehicles sold worldwide were installed with the software more familiarly known as "defeat devices".

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The affected vehicles, which were imported to China, include the Tiguan sports utility vehicle and Passat B6 saloon. At the moment, the software needed to fix the flaw is still under development. Chinese regulators would examine the corrective software before allowing it to be installed on the affected vehicles.

Observers don't expect much reaction from the Chinese market since vehicles using diesel engines are not popular in China. However, the Volkswagen's deception scheme has been a hot topic in the local press.

The car company has apologized for the recall and has given assurances that it will tackle the matter to make sure that customer confidence and trust is reestablished.

In China, most trucks used are powered by diesel engines. But diesel-run cars are quite few, less than half a percent - which is estimated to be several thousands.

Volkwagen is one of the most popular car manufacturers in China. But the company's sales has suffered as the Chinese economy slowed down considerably. Many Chinese customers are reportedly also opting for other car brands.

August car sales showed that the market has lost more than 3 percent compared to the year before.

In April this year, Volswagen spokesperson Joechem Heizmann announced that the company cannot venture into the market for budget SUVs as its competitors because it does not have enough vehicles in that category.

This is not the first time that VW has issued a recall for its vehicles sold in China. Two years ago, up to 400,00 Volkswagen vehicles were recalled due to gearbox issues after the Chinese state media published news about the defect and the related customer complaints.

Tagsvolkswagen china recall, vw defeat device, vw diesel engine, VW china sales, VW china market, VW software cheat, diesel emission, test emission