DETROIT (Reuters) -- The California Air Resources Board said it rejected Volkswagen AG's plan to fix 2.0-liter diesel cars with software that allow them to emit up to 40 times legally allowable pollution.
The state said today VW's proposed fix was "incomplete, substantially deficient and falls far short of meeting the legal requirements." It also said the fix was not fast enough.
CARB sent VW a confidential letter offering a detailed explanation of why its fix plan does not work.
California said it will continue its investigation as well as talks with VW to find a fix.
VW said in a statement that it is in current talks to find a solution -- and said the rejection addresses the initial recall plans submitted to California in December.
"Since then, Volkswagen has had constructive discussions with CARB, including last week when we discussed a framework" to address the issue.
The state did not assess any immediate penalties, but it issued a new notice that VW had violated California air quality regulations.
EPA meeting
VW CEO Matthias Mueller is meeting with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Gina McCarthy on Wednesday to discuss the emissions scandal that impacts nearly 600,000 vehicles in the United States and up to 11 million vehicles worldwide.
EPA said in a statement it agrees with California "that Volkswagen has not submitted an approvable recall plan to bring the vehicles into compliance and reduce pollution. EPA has conveyed this to the company previously."
VW said it is "committed to working cooperatively with CARB and other regulators, and we plan to continue our discussions tomorrow when we meet with the EPA."
VW officials have expressed optimism for winning approval of a plan soon to fix the vehicles. They face a separate Feb. 2 deadline to submit a plan to fix 80,000 larger Porsche, Audi and VW 3.0 liter vehicles.
Tennessee interest
Separately, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said he met in Washington on Monday with Mueller. VW has a major assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tenn.
"They are preparing for the conversations with EPA," Haslam told Reuters today on the sidelines of the Detroit auto show. "We obviously have a keen interest in getting their legal issues solved so they can go back to selling cars."
Haslam said he is "really concerned that Volkswagen not be punished beyond what is happening in other cases involving manufacturers."
