Horn’s testimony says VW was withdrawing its applications for the 2016 diesels because they include software that should have been disclosed to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which must certify them for sale in the country.
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The new head of disgraced German automaker Volkswagen said Wednesday that he hopes the company can begin recalling vehicles in January 2016 and perhaps finish repairing all vehicles affected by its emissions cheating scandal by the end of the year.
Volkswagen’s software used to cheat emissions tests was switched on in diesel vehicles in Europe, German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on Thursday, citing Volkswagen.
Michael Horn, president and chief executive officer of Volkswagen of America, offered a “sincere apology” in his written statement to the committee.
“These events are deeply troubling”, Horn said.
Müller will steps into his new position as Volkswagen Group CEO immediately and will also continue to operate as Chairman of Porsche AG until until a successor has been found. The company said it would hire a USA law firm, which it did not identify, to conduct an internal investigation of the emissions deception, which Huber blamed on “developers and technicians” in the company’s motor development operations.
Last week Volkswagen announced plans to recall and refit up to 11 million affected vehicles worldwide.
A Volkswagen spokesman in the United States said he did not know what the device did, but the company said that such devices sense engine performance, road speed “and any other parameter for activating, modulating, delaying or deactivating” emissions controls.
If the company ever fully recovers from the scandal, analysts say it to won’t happen anytime soon.
Mr Horn said he was made aware of the “possible emissions non-compliance” following the publication of a West Virginia University study in spring 2014. Those devices allowed popular models, such as the Jetta, to tell when they were undergoing emissions testing.
And probably not a surprise, but re-sale values for VW diesels are falling.
VW received at least $2 billion in economic benefits from selling diesel vehicles in the USA that cheated emissions tests, said attorney Blair Nicholas, who filed a consumer lawsuit in Los Angeles last month against the company.
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During his speech Mueller revealed that a technical solution to the issue is close – on numerous vehicles only a software upgrade will be needed though a few could need hardware changes too.
