Volkswagen of America CEO testifies before U.S. Congress

Mr Horn said he first learned VW’s diesel cars had issues with dirty emissions in 2014, but said he was unaware of the cheating software until a day before the scheme was publicly revealed last month.

Michael Horn, president and chief executive of Volkswagen Group of America, told a US Congress panel on Thursday that he only understood the existence of the cheating software on the cars “a couple days” before September 3, when the company admitted it existed.

Volkswagen did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment on the Süddeutsche report.

By withdrawing the applications for the 2016 models, VW is leaving thousands of diesel vehicles stranded at ports nationwide, giving dealers no new diesel-powered vehicles to sell.

The shocking revelations have wiped more than 40 per cent off Volkswagen’s market capitalisation, but the direct and indirect costs are still incalculable as the company risks fines in several countries and possible damages from customers’ lawsuits.

When asked about current diesel VWs on the road, and what owners of the cars are supposed to do, Horn said the EPA concluded, “these cars are legal and safe to drive”.

Meanwhile, while the United States lawmakers proved they were unsatisfied with the explanation provided, they also slammed the Environmental Protection Agency and its official called to testify after Horn for not uncovering the ploy earlier.

Knowing that any alterations to the emissions system could cause a change in horsepower and fuel economy, Mr. Horn told committee members Volkswagen would consider a buy-back program for all affected vehicles.

The EPA and California Air Resources Board are investigating “the nature and purpose” of the device, she said.

The U.S. House criticized Volkswagen USA Chief, Michael Horn, during a congressional meeting on October 8. He later promised that VW “can fix these vehicles to achieve emissions standards”.

“Let me be very clear: we at Volkswagen take full responsibility for our actions and we are working with all the relevant authorities in a co-operative way”. However, Horn didn’t say what evidence VW had concerning those engineers.

Subcommittee Chair Timothy Murphy (R-Pa.) told Horn he found it “amazing” that the university’s testers discovered the defeat device while VW’s “army of brilliant engineers and mechanics didn’t know something was amiss”.

Volkswagen has acknowledged that about 11 million diesel cars worldwide – including 482,000 in the US – were rigged with the so-called defeat device.

Nearly three weeks after it admitted publicly to rigging US emissions tests, Europe’s largest auto maker is under huge pressure to identify those responsible, fix affected vehicles and clarify exactly how and where the cheating happened.