As Deiss said in his CES keynote address, although Volkswagen’s European Union-market cars are ready for repairs that allegedly won’t affect vehicle performance or fuel economy, the EPA is presenting unique challenges for the company’s U.S.-market vehicles thanks to its more stringent nitrogen regulations and easier carbon emissions requirements.
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One of those steps, according to Reuters (citing German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung), may include buying back close to 115,000 of its own vehicles that now reside within the U.S. The decision to do so hasn’t been confirmed by VW brand chief Herbert Diess, though he hopes to come to an agreement with U.S. regulators very soon.
With Volkswagen citing German privacy law, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said the German automaker “has failed to pursue every avenue to overcome the obstacles” it has cited.
The Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen said on Friday that the company was not cooperating with the investigation. Previously, some regulators suggested that these older models would have to be bought back.
Also earlier this week, the US Department of Justice officially sued Volkswagen for violations of the Clean Air Act, asking for billions of dollars in fines.
VW itself declined to confirm whether or not it was withholding documents, saying only it was not commenting on ongoing investigations. It has hired advisory firm Deloitte L.L.P. and USA law firm Jones Day to investigate the circumstances under which the company installed software into diesel cars that changed engine settings to reduce emissions whenever vehicles were tested.
“We cooperate closely with the U.S. investigation authorities”, he said. “Volkswagen’s cooperation with the states’ investigation has been spotty-and frankly, more of the kind one expects from a company in denial than one seeking to leave behind a culture of admitted deception”.
Mr. Jepsen said state AGs will “seek to use any means available to us to conduct a thorough investigation of Volkswagen’s conduct”.
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The federal government doesn’t sound particularly confident that a solution will be reached quickly either, with the EPA’s spokesperson Cynthia Giles saying, the talks “have have not produced an acceptable way forward” yet.
