VW US Chief: "We Have Totally Screwed Up"
Michael Horn, President and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, didn’t mince words last night during Volkswagen’s launch of the 2016 Passat midsize sedan, according to Automotive News.
At the vehicle launch in Brooklyn on Monday night, the executive said, “Our company was dishonest with the EPA, and the California Air Resources Board and with all of you. And in my German words: We have totally screwed up. We must fix the cars to prevent this from ever happening again and we have to make this right. This kind of behavior is totally inconsistent with our qualities.”
Volkswagen has opened themselves up to $18 billion in fines in the United States alone. Additional fines could be levied if the group’s 3.0-liter V-6 diesel engine is also found not to comply with EPA emissions regulations.
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I'm with John...this wasn't a mistake, it was a massive fraud. I think they're going to end up having to reimburse owners on this, in addition to whatever other legal penalties they'll have to pay. The customers who bought these paid thousands of dollars extra for the diesel version, and they all got completely ripped off. What a disaster.
This is going to be like Watergate. Remember Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon?
I know that European and US market cars differ, but am I understanding this right in that it's just US market cars in which this software is installed? Do European market cars spew 40 TIMES more NOx???
The Diesel automobile in the U.S. is now dead. I actually thought about buying one years ago, but the added complexity of Diesel engines in general effectively talked me out of a potential mistake.