Presented to the Federal Motor Transport Authority in Germany, the updates so far concern the 1.6 and 2.0-litre four-cylinder Euro 5 diesel engines, and enable all affected vehicles to comply with emissions standards.

Recalls will begin in January and are expected to take the entire 2016 calendar year. For the 2.0-litre engines, the fix involves a software update taking around half an hour. A mesh ‘flow transformer’ will need to be fitted to 1.6-litre diesel engines, which enables better monitoring of air flow and for the combustion process to be optimised. This is expected to take an hour.

A solution for the three-cylinder, 1.2-litre diesel engines is due at the end of November, which is likely to be a software update, the Volkswagen Group said, adding that courtesy cars will be provided free of charge, and that the vehicles were safe to drive in the interim.