Volkswagen AG admitted that it will not be able to sell diesel-powered vehicles in the United States for a long period. The company withdrew a request for regulators to certify new models in the verge of an emissions-cheating scandal.
The automaker's 2016 model diesel-powered vehicles include emission-control software that calls for regulatory approval in the US, based on the prepared speech by Michael Horn the auto maker's US chief executive that was delivered yesterday Oct. 8 at a congressional hearing, The Wall Street Journal reported. However, it was not clear from the speech whether the software can defeat emissions tests as software on older diesel-powered vehicles does.
In his statement, Horn was sincerely apologetic to the US lawmakers for the company's prolonged deception. He said, "These events are deeply troubling. I did not think that something like this was possible at the Volkswagen Group. We have broken the trust of our customers, dealerships and employees, as well as the public and regulators."
The decision to pull a request for US certification affects the German automaker's US factory in Chattanooga, Tenn., where diesel-powered vehicles account for approximately one-third of its production. Lawmakers initially refused to certify the vehicles after finding out this summer that older models had software meant to cheat US emissions tests.
In a different report by the same publication, the Volkswagen US CEO said that he did not know in 2014 about emissions defeat devices. In his speech, he kept repeating that the company disclosed the cheating to regulators on Sept. 3, but an insider familiar with the issue previously said a Volkswagen executive unveiled the saga to a California regulator late in August.
Meanwhile, Horn received strong backing from U.S. dealers on the matter. Furthermore, it is reported that Volkswagen's national dealer advisory council in the US expressed "unconditional support" for Mr. Horn in late September.