At the company's annual meeting in Germany this week, Volkswagen Chief Executive Officer Matthias Mueller made a special announcement. He said that the company is planning to start installing particulate filters on their gasoline engines. Mercedes recently announced the same intention with some of its models.

On 18 September 2015, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accused Volkswagen Group of using a "defeat device" in their diesel engines, which could be detected while being tested. The German automaker has sold about a half-million vehicles in the United States equipped with this device. VW pleaded guilty and now they decided to implement the particulate filters on their supercharged and direct injection gasoline engines to reduce the particulate pollutants. This will help to meet future emissions standards.

The European Union is going to start enacting particulate-matter emissions limits later this year. The Audi A5 2.0-liter engine and the Volkswagen Tiguan SUV's 1.4-liter engine are among the first to receive the particulate filters next June. Next week the German automaker may submit a plan to pay owners of VW's diesel vehicles for their troubles, funding a pollution-offset fund at the same time.