The US Environmental Protection Agency said in a press release on Friday that it is launching more aggressive testings of diesel-engine cars in the United States, a decision that was urgently asked after the Volkswagen emission scandal.
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VW admitted to rigging 11 million vehicles in the usa with software that helped it to pass emissions tests.
German prosecutors initiated an investigation Monday against Martin Winterkorn, a former chief executive of car-maker Volkswagen, over accusations of fraud in connection with an emission cheating scandal, local media reported.
The Supervisory Board held a meeting in its headquarters in Wolfsburg on Tuesday and chose to appoint Matthias Mueller, 62, as CEO Volkswagen AG with immediate effect, a company statement said.
Working to recover from a widespread cheating scheme to evade emissions regulations, Volkswagen named the top manager of its Porsche subsidiary to head the German automaker.
In the wake of the Volkswagen scandal involving various cheats to make sure diesel vehicles passed emissions tests, one question remains.
The tests will include monitoring vehicles borrowed from individual consumers as well as extensive highway testing with equipment that can track a car’s emissions as it is being driven, the EPA said.
And no longer will the EPA rely on vehicles exclusively provided by manufacturers.
And in the USA, the Justice Department said it is taking the allegations against the company “very seriously” and announced an investigation. The environmental NGO had said in its report that vehicle companies had sent a letter to the Commission claiming that the pollution targets – no more than 120mg CO2/km – were technically not accomplishable and would threaten the European automobile industry. The company has set aside 6.5 billion euros to pay for litigation issues, but that’s not likely to be enough.
“My most urgent task is to win back trust for the Volkswagen Group – by leading no stone unturned and with maximum transparency, as well as drawing the right conclusions from the current situation”.
These cars, which were built between 2009 and 2014, could be subject to a recall if they are found to contain the manipulation software, Mr. Rohrbach said.
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Few new details have been offered by the manufacturer on the fallout from the scandal – but a number of employees have been put on leave until crucial details are cleared up. In Germany, over 800 thousand people are directly employed by Volkswagen, and millions more jobs are linked to the company.
