Supposedly these VWs do meet the European standards. Less restrictive than US, I guess. I thought European was much stricter.
The EU standards are equal to or better than US standards. AND, their standards have been in effect longer than those in the US, like ULSD standards for example.
The EPA does NOT want diesel engines in US passenger cars, PERIOD!
This has been the unwritten mandate for as long as I can remember, and was the mandate since I left the auto industry a decade ago.
US passenger vehicles get far worse mileage than they did 25 years ago, and it is all due to EPA “emissions” requirements.
The dirty little secret is that current US vehicles are worse polluters now than cars built at the end of the 20th century.
The European NOx standard is 10% of the US standard.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_emissions_testing_scandal#Emission_standards
LOL. ALL restrictions originate in California. From there it's just trickle-down to elsewhere.