The CEO of Volkswagen mentioned that he apologized to US President Barack Obama in person due to their emissions scandal, where cars were rigged to pass diesel engine pollution tests.

An apology to Obama

The CEO Matthias Mueller said that he had a two-minute conversation with Obama during the visit to Hannover in Germany.

During the company’s yearly news conference, Mueller mentioned that he got the opportunity to apologize personally for the matter. He added that he expressed his gratitude for the constructive cooperation and hoped that he will be able to continually realize his responsibilities for the 600,000 workers including their families, the dealers and suppliers.

The scandal

The Environmental Protection Agency of the US can give fines amounting to $18 billion, although analysts think it won’t be too drastic. Volkswagen set aside around 7 billion Euros for legal costs, 7.8 billion Euros for fixes and offers to purchase back around 500,000 defective cars.

They also deducted around 16.2 billion Euros from 2015’s earnings in order to cover scandal costs.

The scandal, software was fitted to cars which had them pass tests, broke during the time EPA made a stand against Volkswagen. Around 11 million cars have this software.

Mueller indicated that the recall and the fixing of these cars is their utmost priority.

Volkswagen is now having a settlement with the US authorities in San Francisco’s federal court.

Future plans

Mueller also mentioned that they are making plans to focus on electric vehicles, as well as services such car sharing while seeking to get past the scandal.

He also indicated that their car business is still “fundamentally sound.” However, he detailed their plan to focus on digital services and zero emission cars. They are going to form an independent company that promotes mobility services, such as car sharing and ride sharing applications.

Mueller mentioned that their company will create electric cars with around 20 latest models by year 2020.

Conclusion

In sum, while this is a mistake for Volkswagen, what’s done is done. The good thing is they recognized the problem and made up for it. Meanwhile, for those who own their cars, there are companies offering Volkswagen Service in Brisbane and all over the world.