– Investigations launched –
At home in Germany, Volkswagen on Wednesday submitted to authorities its plans on fixing the affected vehicles, saying it would take until the end of next year for the issue to be resolved.
“If all goes as expected, we can start the repairs in January. By end 2016, all the cars should be in order,” VW chief Matthias Mueller told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily.
The world’s biggest carmaker by sales has launched investigations into who was behind the scam, which involved more than 11 million diesel cars.
Mueller said that “four people, including three responsible directors on different levels of the development of Volkswagen engines,” had been suspended over the deception, adding that “others were already on partial retirement”.
The former Porsche chief, who took over the driver’s seat at VW at the height of the crisis, said he did not believe top management could have been aware of the scandal, which threatens to cost the company billions in vehicle overhauls and fines.
The development of an engine is “a complex process that involves interaction between programmers, engine and gear box developers and those who deal with measurements for official tests,” Mueller said, adding that these are tasks in which “a director is not directly involved”.
