VW Chief Starts US Trip With Apology

But Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the industry-backed Diesel Technology Forum, while conceding that diesel will be “dinged” in the near-term by VW, said diesel cars could still double or triple their United States market share due to tougher USA fuel economy requirements.

Volkswagen’s journey back into the good graces of United States auto enthusiasts has begun with a stream of apologies and is now moving to announcements of fresh investments.

The company is giving owners of diesel-powered cars with 2.0-liter engines under investigation by the US Environmental Protection Agency a 500-dollar Visa card and another 500-dollar gift in credits from its dealers.

The company also issued several apology statements to customers in a bid to win back their trust.

In his speech, Mueller reaffirmed the company’s commitment to the US market, including its $1 billion plant in Chattanooga, which is undergoing a $900 million expansion to make room for production of a new midsize crossover to go on sale in early 2017. Prosecutors in the city, near Volkswagen’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, have been leading the investigation into emission manipulation allegations in VW’s home country.

“We will bring a package together which satisfies our customers first and foremost and then also the regulators”, said Diess.

German newspaper Bild am Sontag has revealed in a recently-published story that beleaguered automaker Volkswagen (VW) has devised a catalytic converter that can fix the majority of its diesel vehicles hit by the diesel-emissions scandal past year.

“We have one (catalytic converter) in the works and we believe that that will be a part of the technical solutions”, Mueller told reporters at a VW event on the eve of the Detroit auto show. It will be handled by star lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, known for handling large consumer compensation cases such as the deadly ignition switches used in some General Motors cars.

“We are working together with the EPA and also with the [California Air Resources Board] for three months, and from our point of view we did huge progress”, Mueller said.

“I think that the Volkswagen brand is going to prove very resilient”, Kelley Blue Book’s Jack Nerad said. In a statement given by investigators from the U.S., Volkswagen is facing grave sanctions by trying to cover up the scandal, making it harder for investigators to depict which ones actually committed the fraud.

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