In what has been a disastrous past couple of days for the carmaker, Volkswagen today admitted that a whopping 11 million vehicles could be hit by the software that they used to pass the emission tests worldwide.
Volkswagen has already gone into damage control by stating that it has begun work on eliminating the issues that the technical measures have caused. They have also planned to set aside a massive 6.5 billion Euro provision in order to cover the costs.
The German automaker faces a fine of up to USD 18 billion for cheating the emission regulation tests that are conducted by the Environmental Protective Agency (EPA) in the USA. The company had installed “defeat devices” on its diesel cars which could cheat on the official tests. The installed software had a test detection capability and would switch on emission control while undergoing the test.
Following the expose on the company, boss Martin Winterkorn, has already issued an apology and Michael Horn, who is the CEO and President of the Volkswagen group in America also agreed that the company had been dishonest and had “screwed up”.
The issue is likely to see many heads in the top management rolling and is now under investigation by the Congressional Investigators who are part of the Oversight and Investigations Committee of the US Congress. Volkswagen is already on the move in an attempt to limit damage, but it appears that it will be quite a while before the case is put to rest.
Update: In news that has just come in, Volkswagen global CEO Martin Winterkorn has taken full responsibility of the emission fallout on the company and has resigned from the post of CEO.
