The China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, a non-profit environmental group, has filed a public interest lawsuit at a court in Tianjin. It is the first public legal challenge the German auto maker has faced over the matter in China, its largest market in terms of car sales.

Small recall

In October, VW offered its ‘sincerest apologies’ to its Chinese customers and announced a recall of 1,950 cars - a fraction of all Volkswagen vehicles imported by the country. The company is believed to have made 3.2 million vehicle deliveries in China in the first 11 months of 2015, but sells only a handful of diesel models there because local governments and consumers see them as cheap and polluting.

Plea seeking a ban

In India, the National Green Tribunal – a dedicated environmental court – sought a response from Volkswagen on Monday following a plea that seeks to ban its vehicles in the country. Earlier this month, VW announced that it would recall more than 300,000 vehicles in India after a government probe found ‘significant variations’ in emission levels from its diesel cars. Sources: International Business Times; The Wall Street Journal