VW CEO apologizes for cheating on emissions tests, diesel sales put on hold

Late last week news broke that Volkswagen has been using software on almost 500,000 diesel Volkswagen and Audi models to manipulate the EPA’s emissions tests.

2015_golf_tdi_engine

Late last week news broke that Volkswagen has been using software on almost 500,000 diesel Volkswagen and Audi models to manipulate the EPA’s emissions tests. The EPA and California Air Resources Board revealed that the software breached the Clean Air Act, which could bring heavy fines to the automaker and now VW’s CEO has issued an apology.
VW Group CEO Martin Winterkorn stated, “The Board of Management at Volkswagen AG takes these findings very seriously. I personally am deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and the public. We will cooperate fully with the responsible agencies, with transparency and urgency, to clearly, openly, and completely establish all of the facts of this case. Volkswagen has ordered an external investigation of this matter.”

2015_golf_tdi

Related: VW Golf TDI travels 8k miles on less than $300 of diesel

The software has been used on vehicles powered by a 2.0L turbocharged diesel engine. The upcoming currently lists the 2009-2015 Beetle, 2009-2015 Golf, 2009-2015 Jetta and 2014-2015 Passat, and the 2009-2015 Audi A3. Sales of all current models have also been halted. VW could face fines up to $18 billion and maybe even some criminal charges.

Source: VW