AFP, Washington :
When the world’s leading carmakers unveil glitzy new models at the Detroit auto show next week, Volkswagen’s chief executive Matthias Mueller will be in town on a less glamorous mission. In his first US visit since American regulators said VW cheated pollution tests, Mueller will apologize over a scandal that plunged the German auto giant into the deepest crisis of its history and could cost billions in fines, recalls and class-action lawsuits.
At a press conference last month, Mueller said he would apologize, but “also look forward with optimism and confidence.”
“Will I be kneeling down? I don’t think so,” he said. Mistakes “will be investigated and we will make sure they will never happen again,” Mueller added, stressing that Volkswagen “will be realigned for a new and successful future, including in the United States.” Volkswagen has captured just three percent of US auto sales and had been counting on a major expansion in the country to achieve its now-shelved goal of overtaking Toyota to become the world’s largest automaker.
Mueller will make an appearance at a media reception in Detroit on Sunday, but Volkswagen said no other public events are scheduled for the embattled chief executive.
“I think that there is certainly a Volkswagen apology tour going on at the auto shows,” Eric Lyman, vice president of industry insights at car-buying site TrueCar, told AFP.
“And since the Detroit auto show is really the pinnacle of the auto show circuit globally, I certainly would expect there will be some sort of reference made to the incident.”
The VW group admits it installed emission-cheating software in around 11 million cars of its VW, Audi, SEAT and Skoda brands worldwide. The so-called defeat devices were designed to turn on pollution controls when the car is undergoing testing, and turn them off when the car is back on the road, allowing it to spew out up to 40 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxide. The affair severely damaged the image of Volkswagen, which is currently facing a host of different investigations in several countries. On Monday, the US government sued the carmaker for installing defeat devices on nearly 600,000 of its VW, Audi and Porsche vehicles sold in America between 2009 and 2015.
The Justice Department did not name the specific overall penalty it was seeking, but the figure could run well above $20 billion, with some media reports suggesting fines as high as $90 billion.
Mueller, who was appointed head of Volkswagen after the scandal broke mid-
September, told German weekly WirtschaftsWoche that it is too early to assess the costs.
When the world’s leading carmakers unveil glitzy new models at the Detroit auto show next week, Volkswagen’s chief executive Matthias Mueller will be in town on a less glamorous mission. In his first US visit since American regulators said VW cheated pollution tests, Mueller will apologize over a scandal that plunged the German auto giant into the deepest crisis of its history and could cost billions in fines, recalls and class-action lawsuits.
At a press conference last month, Mueller said he would apologize, but “also look forward with optimism and confidence.”
“Will I be kneeling down? I don’t think so,” he said. Mistakes “will be investigated and we will make sure they will never happen again,” Mueller added, stressing that Volkswagen “will be realigned for a new and successful future, including in the United States.” Volkswagen has captured just three percent of US auto sales and had been counting on a major expansion in the country to achieve its now-shelved goal of overtaking Toyota to become the world’s largest automaker.
Mueller will make an appearance at a media reception in Detroit on Sunday, but Volkswagen said no other public events are scheduled for the embattled chief executive.
“I think that there is certainly a Volkswagen apology tour going on at the auto shows,” Eric Lyman, vice president of industry insights at car-buying site TrueCar, told AFP.
“And since the Detroit auto show is really the pinnacle of the auto show circuit globally, I certainly would expect there will be some sort of reference made to the incident.”
The VW group admits it installed emission-cheating software in around 11 million cars of its VW, Audi, SEAT and Skoda brands worldwide. The so-called defeat devices were designed to turn on pollution controls when the car is undergoing testing, and turn them off when the car is back on the road, allowing it to spew out up to 40 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxide. The affair severely damaged the image of Volkswagen, which is currently facing a host of different investigations in several countries. On Monday, the US government sued the carmaker for installing defeat devices on nearly 600,000 of its VW, Audi and Porsche vehicles sold in America between 2009 and 2015.
The Justice Department did not name the specific overall penalty it was seeking, but the figure could run well above $20 billion, with some media reports suggesting fines as high as $90 billion.
Mueller, who was appointed head of Volkswagen after the scandal broke mid-
September, told German weekly WirtschaftsWoche that it is too early to assess the costs.
