Apart from fixing its diesel models, Volkswagen has announced that, from 2017, it will begin installing its petrol engines with particulate filters in an effort to slash emissions of fine soot particles by up to 90 per cent.

The direct-injection TSI and TFSI engines used by Volkswagen, Audi, Bentley, Seat and Skoda will be installed with the new filters in their exhaust systems to make them significantly cleaner.

The automaker only currently installs these filters in its diesel cars. With this solution,it expects seven million of its models to have the filters by 2022, starting with the 1.4 TSI engine of the VW Tiguan and the 2.0-liter TFSI of the Audi A5.

Head of group research and development for Volkswagen Dr Ulrich Eichhor, stated: “Following increases in efficiency and lower CO2output, we are now bringing about a sustained reduction in the emission levels of our modern petrol engines by fitting particulate filters as standard.”

At this stage, it remains unclear if and how the filters will affect performance of the group’s petrol models.

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