“I personally am deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and the public”, says Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn, days after the EPA said the German carmaker had purposefully rigged its diesel cars to pass emissions tests.
Advertisement
“The cars have devices that turn emissions controls on during tests and off during normal driving”.
Volkswagen has ordered an external investigation after USA regulators found software the carmaker designed for diesel cars gave false emissions data, its chief executive said yesterday, adding he was “deeply sorry” for the violation of U.S. rules. That action, they said, is illegal and a public health threat. VW must recall all the cars, remove the defeat device and improve the cars’ NOx emissions, which creates smog and has been linked to increased asthma attacks and other respiratory illnesses.
The EPA said VW faces fines of up to 37,500 USA dollars (£24,000) per vehicle for the violations – a total of more than 18 billion U.S. dollars (£12 billion). The result is a mandatory recall of 500,000 Volkswagen and Audi vehicles from model years 2009-2015.
Despite the seriousness of the violation, the EPA said VW will be given “a reasonable amount of time to develop a plan to complete the repairs”, including the fix procedure and manufacture of any needed parts. He said VW has ordered an investigation and promised that the company would cooperate with regulators.
“VW was concealing the facts from the EPA, the state of California and from consumers”.
The EPA said after demanding an explanation from Volkswagen the German automaker admitted this month that the cars contained defeat devices.
The VW models affected include the Jetta, Beetle and Golf from 2009 through 2015, the Passat from 2014-2015 as well as the Audi A3, model years 2009-2015.
The revelations have emerged just as VW was poised to shake off doubts about its leadership at a supervisory board meeting on Friday where it is aiming to take decisions on a new company structure and management lineup.
Volkswagen marketed the diesel-powered cars, which account for about 25 percent of sales, as being better for the environment.
Environmental groups complimented the EPA and California for enforcement of clean-air laws. However, that process could take up to a year, depending on the complexity of the issue, an EPA official said.
Advertisement
It had been surprising that Volkswagen diesel models were able to get impressive horsepower output and fuel economy performance using less costly pollution-control technology than employed in some other automakers’ engines, said Bill Visnic, an independent auto analyst in Weirton, W.Va. When vehicles are being driven normally, the computer disables the emissions controls.
