US probes Bosch in VW cheating scandal

The 2016 Volkswagen Passat is covered in a plastic sheet at the Volkswagen booth, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015, in Los Angeles.

The supervisory board of Europe’s biggest auto maker said Friday it would cut 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) from its investment plan for next year, citing uncertainties over just how much the company would have to spend on litigation and compensation plus fix money in the wake of its emissions cheating scandal.

The German automaker will cut investments by one billion euros ($1.1 billion), or about 8%, to 12 billion euros.

Volkswagen, which is set to provide detailed plans to fix vehicles that do not comply with USA emissions standards, faced more pressure on Thursday from officials in Washington and California to buy back older diesel cars. It can install a bigger exhaust system to trap harmful nitrogen oxide, or it can retrofit a chemical treatment process that cuts pollution.

VW must fix 482,000 2.0-liter diesel vehicles in the US with illegal emission software. But the chemical treatment, while saving acceleration and mileage, needs a clumsy storage tank and multiple hardware changes to work. The company met with the agencies on Thursday, with a final submission on Friday. The company also admitted finding irregularities in carbon dioxide emissions in 800,000 other vehicles, all outside the U.S. Some of those were powered by gasoline engines.

The report quotes two unnamed insiders who have revealed, not unexpectedly, that senior Volkswagen management is also in the sights of investigators.

In terms of model ranges, it said the successor to the Phaeton – a pure-play electric model – is now being delayed.

For authorities to bring charges against Bosch, they would have to prove the supplier knew that their technology was being used by Volkswagen to evade emissions requirements, said Daniel Riesel, an environmental attorney at Sive, Paget & Riesel P.C. VW U.S. CEO Michael Horn has said it could take a year or longer for those cars to be fixed.

“In light of the current situation and the review of our investments, the company has chose to delay by two or three years the increase of its stake in its joint venture with FAW”, a VW spokesman told AFP.