Volkswagen set to expand U.S. goodwill program

Volkswagen AG’s chief executive officer has apologised to American vehicle buyers in his first public appearance in the United States since being hired in the wake of the scandal over the firm’s rigging of emissions tests on its so-called clean diesel engines.

At the reception, Müller also announced that Volkswagen plans to make a new mid-size SUV and would thus invest $900 million in the United States.

“We are totally committed to making things right”, CEO Matthias Mueller said Sunday in a speech in Detroit before the North American International Auto Show.

So far, Volkswagen has left its U.S. head, Michael Horn, to face investigators, legislators, authorities and the media, but new Volkswagen Group CEO Matthias Müller and new head of Development, Ulrich Eichhorn, will be in Detroit on Monday for the city’s annual motor show. In prepared remarks, Mueller indicated that a technical fix for some 600,000 affected diesel models was forthcoming, but did not elaborate on the progress or timeline for the announcement of a technical solution. While Muller seems optimistic, McCarthy is far less so- in fact, she’s publicly bemoaned Volkswagen’s unwillingness to work with the EPA on finding “a satisfactory way forward”.

Volkswagen is also considering whether to buy back vehicles may prove too hard or costly to fix, a company official said, adding that this is one of “many scenarios that are being considered but haven’t been decided”.

Volkswagen says it won’t comment about ongoing USA investigations and the automaker still hasn’t told diesel owners how the emission systems of the cars will be remedied.

But Cars.com editor Joe Wiesenfelder said the outlook for diesel growth in the United States is hazy because lower gasoline prices reduces consumer interest in fuel economy. “We haven’t made any decisions on that”.

Months of talks between the company and EPA have yet to produce an agreement, but both sides said that they are optimistic heading into Wednesday’s meeting.

“For my team and me 2016 will certainly be a year of great challenges but also of great opportunities”, Mueller said.

The affair severely damaged Volkswagen’s reputation and spawned a host of investigations in several countries. With a total of almost 430,000 such vehicles affected by the emissions issue, the catalytic converter fix which has been devised by VW will largely enable the automaker to repair these vehicles.