He said he was “optimistic” that the VW would receive regulatory approval for the fix plans “within the coming weeks and months”. At the same time, the Department of Justice sued, raising the specter of multibillion-dollar fines. “In the European Union, Volkswagen is already doing this”.
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However, things are not expected to be as straightforward in the US. The company estimated that fix would take less than an hour to complete.
After addressing its ongoing scandal for the first three minutes, Diess used the rest of his time onstage to explain the “new Volkswagen”, which he said will be moving towards zero emissions and will stand for everything from affordable electric mobility to fully-connected vehicles, automated driving and an entirely new user experience.
We’ll keep you posted as this story progresses. Software upgrades are less expensive. The EPA swiftly released a rebuttal to that, noting that the agency’s discussions with VW “have not produced an acceptable way forward”.
Wisely, Herbert Diess, CEO of the Volkswagen passenger vehicles brand, dove right in, noting that while the venerable German automaker is proud of its 60-year history in the US, “the current emissions issue is certainly nothing to be proud of”. “In Europe the focus is more on carbon dioxide”. The actual penalties aren’t likely to be that high.
The suit was filed by the Justice Department on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency and seeks sanctions that could reach more than $18 billion. That was part of a $20.8 billion global settlement of state and federal civil claims.
The complaint has been filed against all the Volkswagen brands including Audi and Porsche. The devices detect when a vehicle is being tested and lowers engine performance to reduce pollution.
“I wouldn’t give up diesel, even in the U.S.”, Mr. Diess told reporters on the sidelines of VW’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) keynote address in Las Vegas the evening of January 5.
Still, the most important question for the company is how soon it can announce a solution in the U.S., Arndt Ellinghorst, a London-based analyst for Evercore ISI, wrote in a note. Nor does it include the price of any fees or repairs in other countries, where the majority of Volkswagen’s 11 million tainted diesels are registered.
“It’s a very constructive dialogue”, he said. These engines have been offered with urea injection for far longer than the smaller four-cylinder TDIs found in VW Group sedans, which would make their culpability here far more surprising.
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VW, which is 17 percent owned by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), shares fell as much as 6 percent to a six-week low on Tuesday, the biggest drop on Germany’s blue-chip DAX index.
