Volkswagen emissions[1]
scandal: Only small group to blame for cheating diesel[2]
tests, carmaker says
Updated 10 Dec 2015, 10:26pm
Volkswagen says only a small
group of employees were responsible for cheating US diesel emissions tests and
there is no indication that board members were involved in the biggest business
crisis in the firm[3]'s
history.
Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch
said investigations into the affair were going well, but the scandal was the
result of a "chain of errors" and it would take months to say which
individuals were to blame.
The carmaker announced that
it had agreed on steps to improve oversight[4]
of engine-software development to avoid any future emissions test manipulations[5].
Volkswagen hoped to reach
agreement with US environmental authorities in the next few days or weeks so
the company can start to recall affected cars there.
Cooperation with those
authorities was described as "excellent".
Despite the scandal, orders
so far this year were up by 3.5 per cent and chief executive Matthias Mueller
said he was confident that buyers would get over[6]
their reluctance to buy the group's vehicles in the coming weeks.
VW also said it was planning
to bring in a new corporate structure that would be in place across the group
by early 2017.
The company was not
considering the sale of any units to simplify the group structure or raise
money, and was happy with having 12 brands.
But executives were still
unable to estimate the scandal's legal costs, for which they had so far made no
provisions[7].
Mr Mueller, who has not been
to the United States since becoming chief executive after the scandal broke,
said he would start a visit to the country after the Detroit motor show in
January.
Speaking at a news
conference at VW's headquarters[8]
in Wolfsburg, Mr Mueller said he would apologise for the situation, but added:
"I don't think I will be going down on my knees there ... I will look ahead
optimistically and confidently."
Europe's biggest carmaker
launched internal and external investigations in September after admitting[9]
its deception[10]
in the United States.
Engine-development unit
'remains the focus of investigations'
"No business justifies[11]
crossing legal and ethical[12]
boundaries," Mr Poetsch said. "Even though we cannot prevent
misconduct[13]
by individuals once and for all, in future it will be very difficult to bypass
our processes."
Mr Poetsch said the external
investigation by US law firm Jones Day was making good progress but would need
time to reach conclusions.
He said Volkswagen would not
name any individuals involved on Thursday but it was likely only a small number
of people took part in the deception.
"We are talking here
not about a one-off mistake but a chain of errors," he said, adding:
"Based on what we know today, it was a very limited group which acted
irresponsibly."
VW's engine-development unit
remained the focus of investigations, Mr Poetsch said.
Mr Mueller said the crisis
was an opportunity for VW to introduce long-needed structural change. Since the
start of this year, the VW group's executive board has brought in six new
members, and top management had been changed at seven of VW's 12 brands.
He said VW was working on a
new structure to give more power to its regional divisions and brands. Details
would be drawn up in the first quarter of next year and it would be in place
across the group by early 2017.
"As serious as this
crisis is, it is also offering us an opportunity to drive much-need structural
change and we will use that opportunity," Mr Mueller said.
Up to 11 million cars
worldwide have software installed that defeats emissions tests, and the costs
to Volkswagen of fixing the cars, paying fines to environmental authorities and
dealing with legal challenges are estimated in the tens of billions of euros.
Mr Mueller said it was
relatively simple and inexpensive to fix the affected cars, and he was often
asked why they had not done so in the first place. The reason was that the
technology for the fixes was not available when the cars were built, and the problem
was not known at the time.
"We will not allow the
crisis to paralyse[14]
us," Mr Mueller said. "Although the current situation is serious,
this company will not be broken by it."
The scandal forced out[15]
VW's long-time chief executive and wiped 13 per cent, or 10 billion euros, off
its market value.
Structure of the Lead：
WHO- Volkswagen
WHAT- says only a small
group of employees were responsible for cheating US diesel emissions tests and
there is no indication that board members were involved in the biggest business
crisis in the firm's history
WHEN- not given
WHERE- not given
WHY- not given
HOW- not given
Vocabulary：
