Volkswagen faces another conundrum after the U.S. Chief admitted he already knew of the emission problems since 2014.
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It was unclear what the newly disclosed device found in a few VW models does. Certification for new models was denied by regulators several times until the emission probe was reported.
He said the United Kingdom has started its own testing programme which will seek “to get to the bottom” of what the situation is for VW Group cars in the UK.
Commenting on the case on Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her political party will not allow the scandal to discredit the entire motor industry because of the numbers of German jobs connected to it. “It’s definitely a stain on the brand’s image”.
Mr Horn’s appearance on Capitol Hill comes after prosecutors searched VW headquarters in Germany on Thursday in an attempt to establish who authorised the software. The automaker revealed that as many as 11 million vehicles carry the cheating software. However, Mr. Horn said it’s possible repairs on the cars could cost more than the value of the cars.
“(Volkswagen Group) understands that this has been a hard time and apologises for any disappointment and inconvenience felt by our customers, staff, dealers and partners”.
“We have broken the trust of our customers, dealerships, employees as well as the public and the regulators”.
“You know that simple software guys would never have the courage or the authority to initiate the cheating”, said retired General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz.
“Let me be very clear about this: while I was told about the EPA process, I was not then told, nor did I have any reason to suspect, that our vehicles included such a device”, he said, according to The Guardian. The same cars had met emissions standards when tested in the lab.
VW was able to fool the EPA because the agency only tested the cars on treadmill-like devices called dynamometers and didn’t use portable test equipment on real roads. He insisted that he and other management were not aware of the deceptive software until about September 3 of this year, two weeks before the EPA announced the action against VW.
Diesel cars with the newer generation of the engine are less complex and Horn said that fixes for those could begin as early as the beginning or middle of next year.
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In testimony released ahead of his hearing before a congressional committee, Michael Horn offered a “sincere apology” over Volkswagen’s use of a software created to cheat pollution tests.
