Despite all the problems and scandal, Volkswagen is still holding on strong in the United States with dealers reporting that they are now low in stock.
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The automaker has admitted that up to 11 million diesels models sold worldwide by its VW, Audi, Skoda, Seat and VW commercial van brands may have engine management software that was manipulated to fool official tests for harmful NOx emissions. VW first denied the findings. Earlier this month the regulators accused VW of installing the defeat device software on about 10,000 cars from the 2014 through 2016 model years, in violation of the Clean Air Act. The cars in question were the 2014 Volkswagen Touareg, the 2015 Porsche Cayenne and the 2016… “You can’t recover from a scandal while it’s still growing”.
“So we agreed to take all of the 3-liter diesel engines, look at the software, recalibrate it and then we’ll resubmit it to the agencies so they’re comfortable with how it’s performing and what it’s doing”, Stertz said.
Later on Friday, VW will be outlining its plan to fix the vehicles in a proposal to the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board, the AP reports.
We reached out to VW for comment and are awaiting an official statement.
The German manufacturer says it is committed to making things right and regaining the trust of its valued customers.
Europe’s largest auto maker has halted sales of all those vehicles in the USA amid discussions with regulators, a company spokeswoman said.
“We are to examine all our investments and all our spending”.
VW’s preference shares, down about 34 percent since the crisis broke, were up 1.6 per cent to 107.55 euros at 1240GMT.
The investment plan was only for 2016, rather than the traditional five years provided in the past. But last Friday, it only gave numbers for next year and did not give a figure for research and development.
They have suggested the emissions scandal could provide an opportunity for management to force through changes that otherwise might have been resisted by the company’s influential trade unions, and ultimately boost VW shares.
Stertz said it would cost in the “double-digit” millions of dollars to reprogram all the software on the six-cylinder diesels.
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Regulators announced on November 20 that the Wolfsburg, Germany-based automaker had confessed that emissions control equipment was installed on its 3.0-liter diesel-powered cars dating back to 2009.
