VW offering up to $15,000 to ditch old diesels in Germany

Volkswagen Group has announced it will offer as much as €10,000 ($A15,000) to owners of older diesel cars to tempt them to trade them in for a new VW.

The new scrappage scheme applies to German customers who own cars fitted with Euro1 to Euro4 emission-compliant diesels.

The cashback scheme is generous. Even those trading into a relatively inexpensive up! city-car will be given €2000, while those driving an old diesel who are tempted by a big SUV could get €10,000 back for buying a Touareg SUV.

The incentives apply to trade-ins from any manufacturer.

The aim of the new scheme is seen as VW Group enthusiastically backing the German government's new drive to rid the country of polluting diesels, which were discovered in part in the wake of the Dieselgate scandal.

As well as Volkswagen, both VW Commercial and Audi will also offer incentives of up to €10,000 on its most expensive models.

Even Porsche is getting in on the act, but will only offer a less impressive €5000 discount on a Cayenne or Panamera.

As well as the new incentives, Volkswagen Group, combined with Daimler, BMW and Opel, have also offered the German government a new quick fix software update to cut NOx emissions in five million vehicles.

The free fix, seen as an industry-wide attempt to avert an outright diesel ban, is claimed to reduce harmful smog-inducing NOx emissions by 25 to 35 per cent.

The software patch only covers Euro5 and early Euro6 vehicles -- hence the move to incentivise trade-ins of older diesels.