Volkswagen is recalling about 2.64 million vehicles globally, including its biggest such recall in China, to fix electronic and drive-system flaws in some of its most popular models.

Volkswagen is recommending that mineral oil be used in dual-clutch gearboxes on 1.6 million cars and vans in place of synthetic oil, Michael Franke, a spokesman at the Wolfsburg, Germany-based company, said yesterday by phone. Another 800,000 Tiguan compact sport-utility-vehicles may have lighting defects and 239,000 Amarok pickups should be fixed for fuel leaks, the manufacturer said yesterday.

The recalls this month by Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest carmaker, as well as Chrysler, Toyota and Mitsubishi  highlight the drawbacks of adding increasingly sophisticated technology to new models. Nissan Motor Co. hired the senior auto reviewer for Consumer Reports magazine in the U.S. as its executive adviser on vehicle quality last year, citing the need to “keep pace with” product complexity.

“This isn’t a VW-specific problem, it’s one of the things that happen at mass-market carmakers,” Frank Schwope, a Hanover, Germany-based analyst at Nord LB, said by phone. “Costs will probably be in the high double-digit or even triple-digit million-euro range. They might be partly shared with suppliers involved, but they still make VW’s full-year earnings target more difficult to reach.”

The lubricant replacement in seven-speed dual-clutch gearboxes is intended to prevent electric malfunctions. VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat brand vehicles are targeted by the program, Franke said. A Chinese regulator said yesterday that 640,309 cars in that country are affected.

VW recalled 384,181 vehicles in China in March after state television featured complaints about vibrations, loss of power and sudden acceleration in models including the Golf, its best-selling car worldwide. That repair program, also involving dual-clutch gearbox flaws, prompted a public apology by Jochem Heizmann, chief of the carmaker’s Chinese business, at the Shanghai auto show in April.