Volkswagen CEO Mller Says Buybacks 'Possible,' In Theory

by Chris Tonn

January 12th, 2016 1:00 PM

volkswagen ceo mller says buybacks possible in theory

Volkswagen CEO Matthias Müller apologized again to dealers and customers for the ongoing diesel scandal in a statement to CNBC’s Phil LeBeau. When pressed, he also admitted that buybacks are possible.

“This is a difficult situation because we have similar generations of engines … [but] the technical situations are all so different,” said Müller. “In some cases, it’s very easy to repair the cars. In other cases, it’s very expensive … and in that case we have to negotiate whether it would be better to bring the cars back to Volkswagen.”

See full interview below:

#Buyback #MatthiasMüller #Volkswagen #VwDieselScandal

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16 of 49 comments

Northeaster on Jan 12, 2016

Four months of bad press into a crisis of VW's making, Herr Muller has provided the clearest possible evidence that rewarding publicly dishonest dirt balls who still don't get it after months is not really how I should be spending my next $50k or so.

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- RideHeight on Jan 12, 2016
  
  Given the red-handedness of VW's situation I don't see what choice Müller has but to play the obtuse, innocent squarehead and hide behind Simple English.
  
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- SCE to AUX on Jan 12, 2016
  
  @RideHeight He could play the penitent Japanese CEO and make things right. Instead, in 2 minutes of interview, he's made things exponentially worse.
  
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- APaGttH on Jan 12, 2016
  
  @SCE to AUX VW continues to run a textbook case on how not to manage a confidence crisis. It is amazing to watch how badly they are messing this up.
  
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- RideHeight on Jan 13, 2016
  
  @SCE to AUX "He could play the penitent Japanese CEO and make things right." Now, that's interesting. Because offsetting Toyota's admirably proactive handling of its recent brouhaha one immediately recalls Takata, Tepco/Fukushima and All Nippon Airways/Lockheed as counterexamples of Japanese moral porosity and PR death-wish. And there are others too buried in the past and my long term memory to be quickly dredged up at this hour. Can you recall any instances of Japanese corporate adroitness besides Toyota?
  
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DenverMike on Jan 12, 2016

When you add up their total potential exposure, VW has to be seriously considering cutting bait and pulling out of the US, leaving everyone that'll be holding their hands out, including the Feds, California and dealers, high and dry. If it wasn't for Mexico, VW would've jumped ship decades ago.

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- SCE to AUX on Jan 12, 2016
  
  As long as the company has breath in its lungs, the Americanos (all of them affected) will want their respective pounds of flesh. Only if VW goes bankrupt (which I think is possible) will people be left with nothing.
  
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- DenverMike on Jan 12, 2016
  
  @SCE to AUX Can a foreign company go bankrupt in the US when they thrive or do OK outside of the US? Why didn't Peugeot, Citroen, Renault, Suzuki and others seek such protection in the US, before simply pulling the plug? If left high and dry, as a consumer or government, and then sue VW, could you collect on a judgement in your favour, if VW has abandoned the US forever?
  
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- RobertRyan on Jan 12, 2016
  
  @DenverMike No. You would have to chase them through foreign courts and that would be an expensive and frustrating exercise
  
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- RobertRyan on Jan 12, 2016
  
  Leaving many unemployed in the Southern US
  
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Hybridkiller on Jan 12, 2016

Headline fatigue (as expected) has pretty much fully set in at this point. Yes, every new development in this story is still reported in the major media outlets, but with the exception of CARB-state resident TDI owners, VWAG shareholders, and people on certain (*cough*) auto enthusiast websites, nobody else cares any more. VW is still selling gassers in the US at a decent clip (Tiguan had record sales for 2015, and December was its best month on record). VW will bungle their way through this, throw a big pile of money at the EPA, a much smaller pile at current owners, and move on. People who continue to predict a complete withdrawal from the US market alas are going to be sorely disappointed.

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- SCE to AUX on Jan 12, 2016
  
  VW doesn't have a pile of money big enough to satisfy the angry mob at their door. I predict that crippling settlements may be limited by the courts in order to prevent bankruptcy, but VW's market equity will be so harmed that sales will fall off, staff will be reduced, and the company will subsist as a shell of what it once was. It could take years.
  
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- RobertRyan on Jan 12, 2016
  
  @SCE to AUX Neither will happen. It will keep on growing and the results, will be like the unintended acceleration issue with Toyota
  
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- Mopar4wd on Jan 13, 2016
  
  @RobertRyan Growing where? Rest of the world maybe, but their US sales are going to be in the sh((t can for a while. It's not Toyota, Toyota can do no wrong in many american consumers eyes so they apologized spent money on likely un-required repairs and moved on. VW has a horrible reliability rep and a bad dealer rep in the US add this mess with a idiot for a CEO and you have VW USA's collapse or if they are going to be stubborn decades of sales under cost to move metal and pretend they are competitive.
  
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- RobertRyan on Jan 13, 2016
  
  @mopar4wd Yes, defining it better, the VW Corporation will keep growing outside the US. They in Australia, are now selling more Audi's than before. Old Motto: Any news is better than none
  
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Jthorner on Jan 13, 2016

He looks like the East German villain in a 1970s James Bond movie!

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