Mueller was made CEO of VW Group two days after his predecessor Martin Winterkorn quit.
Advertisement
Calling the cheating a “moral and policy disaster”, the company’s supervisory board chief Berthold Huber said on Friday that the group is now looking to Mueller, who “knows the company and its brands”, to tackle the crisis.
An activist from the environmental protection organization Greenpeace holds a protest poster in front of a factory gate of the German auto manufacturer Volkswagen in Wolfsburg, Germany, Friday, September 25, 2015.
EPA officials insisted on a call with reporters Friday that the previous testing procedures were sophisticated and sufficient to accurately detect the emissions from the diesel cars as long as a manufacturer is not deliberating trying to cheat the process.
The agency accused the company of installing the so-called “defeat device” in 482,000 cars sold in the US.
Taking over the new role, Mr. Mueller said in a statement that he would try everything possible to adopt strict compliance and governance standards industry-wide.
VW later acknowledged that similar software exists in 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide but hasn’t given details of the models and their whereabouts.
Switzerland has banned the sale of Volkswagen Group cars equipped with software created to skirt emissions regulations in the wake of an emissions-rigging scandal that erupted in the United States earlier this month.
The announcement does not change the standard testing that applies to new vehicles.
So far, the “illegal” tampering with emission controls affects about 2.8 million Volkswagen vehicles in Germany with 1.6-litre and 2-litre diesel engines, including light utility vans, Dobrindt said.
Customers and motor dealers are furious Volkswagen has yet to say which models and construction years are affected, and whether it will have to recall any cars for refits.
Grundler said EPA has the money and staff to expand its emission testing.
It was also thought that Michael Horn, the president and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, could find his own job in jeopardy, but the company confirmed that he will remain in his post.
Advertisement
Winterkorn on Wednesday announced his resignation, saying he accepted responsibility for the “irregularities” that had been found in diesel engines.
