VW CEO Provides Update on Dieselgate Investigation

Volkswagen Golf SportWagen at the 2015 Chicago Auto Show

Volkswagen’s chief executive on Monday that the embattled German automaker is still several months away from being able to present findings from its investigation into who was responsible for installing software that allows diesel automobiles to cheat and pass emissions test. The company will, however, provide an update into its investigation in mid December, Chief Executive Matthias Müller said in a speech at the company’s Wolfsburg headquarters.

What was briefly the world’s largest car manufacturer is embroiled in a global scandal involving not only diesel but also gasoline engines. The Dieselgate affair could cost the company tens of billions of euros in fines and litigation, in addition to the cost of retrofitting over ten million of its cars to comply with emissions regulations in multiple countries.

The cost of the crisis has already caused VW to announce plans to cut spending and delay some new car projects.

Müller said that the delay is due to “complex occurrences,” some of which took place in “far in the past,” making it difficult to complete the investigation in a more timely fashion.

German authorities have already approved the automaker’s plans to bring 90% of Volkswagen Group vehicles, including diesels from Skoda and Audi, into compliance. The KBA has approved the software fix for the company’s 2-liter diesel engine and given a general approval for a combination of software and hardware fixes that have been proposed for VW’s 1.6-liter diesel engine. VW hopes to gain approval for the proposed updates for its 1.2-liter engine by early December.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)