“They said it started with the decision to launch this major diesel vehicle campaign in the U.S. But VW developers couldn’t figure how to meet U.S. emissions standards within the timeline and budget they’d been given, so they developed the software defeat device”. “We still do not know whether the people who were involved in this issue from 2005 to the present day were fully aware of the risks they were taking and of the potential damage they could expose the company to, but that’s another issue we will find out”, he said.
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German carmaker Volkswagen on Thursday revealed that the emission test scandal was largely attributed to misconduct of some employees. However, the company believes only a “small number” of employees was actively involved in the manipulation of emissions.
He said the investigation had sifted through vast tracts of data equivalent to 50 million books and conducted 87 extensive interviews.
In a case that is separate from its scandal over cheating on USA emissions tests for the pollutant nitrogen oxide, Volkswagen said in November it had also found “unexplained inconsistencies” in the carbon dioxide emissions from up to 800,000 vehicles.
CEO Matthias Mueller said that the scandal had so far not caused the “massive slump that some feared earlier”. “Overall, the situation is not dramatic, but, as was to be expected, it’s tense”, said Mueller. Sales in the USA fell almost 25 per cent in November, the first month to show the full impact of the scandal.
“He warned that no one, regardless of rank, would be spared from the ongoing investigations”, Esme says. Figures for the European Union are due next week.
He suggested that the company was not considering any cuts to full-time jobs, but that it might have to shed some temporary workers.
“It aligns with what many news outlets, including NPR, have reported”, John says.
But executives were still unable to estimate the scandal’s legal costs, for which they had so far made no provisions.
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The emissions tests – which have provoked such huge controversy for Volkswagen around the world – will now be undertaken by independent third parties while road evaluating will be based on what Pötsch describes as “real life driving”.
