VW customers can check car’s emissions

Michael Horn, President and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, speaks during the 2016 Volkswagen Passat reveal in the Brooklyn borough of New York September 21, 2015.

Mr Horn said the events had been “deeply troubling”, adding: “I did not think that something like this was possible at the Volkswagen Group”. This includes accepting the consequences of our acts, providing a remedy, and beginning to restore the trust of our customers, dealerships, employees, the regulators, and the American public.

Meanwhile across the US and Canada, more cities and provinces are launching their own investigations and filing lawsuits against the car manufacturer. Regulators previously had declined to certify the vehicles after discovering this summer that older models contained software designed to dupe U.S. emissions tests.

Volkswagen’s US CEO will face Congressional hearing today.

One source close to the matter said the supervisory board of the company’s flagship Audi brand would also meet this afternoon, and has hired accountants to help investigate the scandal as well.

He said top executives would not have involved themselves in the intricacies of engine software.

Volkswagen says 8 million cars in the European Union are affected by an investigation into whether the automaker manipulated emissions tests, according to a letter received Monday by German lawmakers. “Therefore it will take some time until we have factual and reliable results and can provide you with comprehensive information”, he added, declining to take any questions.

Mr. Horn in 2014 “did not know, nor was he informed, that Volkswagen vehicles included the defeat device software”, a Volkswagen spokeswoman said. The U.S. government subsidized the purchases with tax credits, he said.

Horn’s testimony before the House panel is likely to be big news on Thursday. Asked if that will be enough, Mueller didn’t say yes or no.

Mr. Horn was unavailable to comment on Wednesday. It wasn’t immediately clear when VW would refile its application, but Horn’s testimony said the company is working with regulators to get certification.

Volkswagen’s US boss has admitted he was aware early last year of the emissions cheating affecting millions of the company’s vehicles.

Volkswagen has said the illegal software was not activated on the bulk of the 11 million vehicles, most of which are in Europe, leaving uncertainty over whether it rigged tests there.

The Australian unit of Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) said it had set up a website for customers to see if their vehicles, including almost 55,000 Volkswagen branded passenger cars, 5,000 Skodas and more than 17,000 Volkswagen commercial vehicles, had the affected EA 189 diesel engines.

Last month VW was forced to apologise after it was discovered that it had developed software to trick emission tests for some of its diesel models. Those vehicles had purposely been rigged to cheat on the tests so that they appeared to give off reduced emissions of nitrogen oxide, a gas that is a major contributor to smog and is linked to an array of respiratory ailments including asthma, emphysema and bronchitis.