Delhi HC lawyer charges Audi India with selling defective Rs.40 lakh car

NEW DELHI - The Indian unit of German car manufacturer Audi is now in the news for the wrong reasons. It has been accused of selling a defective Audi A6 car to a Delhi-based lawyer.

Though Audi India maintains that it has done no wrong and blames the concerned lawyer for damaging the car part in question, Delhi High Court lawyer Manav Gupta has countered by saying that Audi India gave him a car with a defective Vee- belt that had resulted in the sudden jamming of the vehicle’s steering wheel.

Gupta said that the Rs.40 lakh car broke down at the beginning of October, while he was driving on a turn in South Delhi.

The Vee- belt controls slippage and alignment of the car, and was found to have a manufacturing defect.

Gupta is demanding that Audi India compensate him and/ or pay back the cost of the car.

He has also asked them to recall all other cars belonging to the same batch as they too are likely to have the same defect.

Manav’s father Suresh, said initially a senior officer from Audi India had accepted that the same problem had occurred in quite a few Audi A6 cars belonging to that particular batch.

“We were told by company officials that they have rectified the fault in up to 10 per cent of the cars,” Suresh said.

Audi has, however, denied the allegations and said Guptas’ car was an isolated case.

“This is a standalone occurrence and definitely not an issue with all the cars,” Metabelle Lobo, a senior official at Audi India, said.

The Guptas argue that even if theirs’ was a standalone case, the company, as part of its responsibility, should go ahead and check every car belonging to the batch for the same defect.

Lobo denied that the company is running any kind of recall campaign.

Though the car has been repaired, the Guptas have refused to take it back. (ANI)