BMW urged to help finance diesel hardware upgrades

Bloomberg

BMW AG is under pressure to drop its opposition to funding hardware upgrades on some diesel vehicles as German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government continues efforts to defuse a crisis that’s damaging the country’s reputation as an automotive leader.
Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer had summoned executives from BMW and rivals Volkswagen AG and Daimler AG to a meeting in Berlin — the second this year — to discuss the upgrades. VW sparked the diesel crisis three years ago when it admitted to rigging cars to cheat on emissions tests.
VW and Daimler have said they are willing to cover most of the estimated 3,000 euros ($3,426) it will cost to retrofit an older diesel car with cleaner emissions equipment, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as the discussions are private. Merkel has said the government could also contribute, but only as a last resort.
“I expect carmakers to take part — and quickly,” Scheuer said in an interview with broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk. BMW Chief Executive Officer Harald Krueger reiterated his opposition to hardware fixes, saying the company is already contributing via measures including software updates and incentives for customers to trade-in older diesel vehicles.
It will take until at least 2021 to develop the technology to apply the upgrades, Krueger said at BMW’s earnings news conference.
“Beyond that, progress in diesel technology cannot simply be retroactively applied to cars that were developed 10 years ago,” he said.
“They were legitimately registered and represented the technology at the time.”