Only in September Matthias Mueller was head of Porsche and - rightly - likely rather enjoying his job. Today? Probably not so much. Gifted the role of heading up Volkswagen, he's now having to put his name to the latest admission that further investigations of the Stateside NOx emissions fiddles may yet impact on European tests for CO2 and mpg.
'Can I just have my old job back please?'
Seems like only yesterday we were reporting on the American EPA's latest assault on VW. Oh, that's because it
was only yesterday
. In the ever-developing saga we now have VW in the headlines for the second day running and with a twist in the story threatening impact on owners this side of the Atlantic too.
The dry corporate language declaring "the Volkswagen Group is moving forward with clarification of the diesel issue" doesn't really hint at the further implications of what Muller's "relentless and comprehensive" investigations seem to have uncovered. Namely that "irregularities were found when determining type approval CO2 levels" for around 800,000 vehicles. In the UK these numbers determine everything from your VED to your company car tax - even how much it costs for a resident's parking permit in some places - and could therefore have a serious impact on owners if VW has to look again at what its cars are emitting. Whether any realignment would be retrospectively applied to owners who based their buying decisions on the original numbers is, of course, up to governments and regulatory authorities. But with confidence in the brand already shaky and share prices taking another knock it's clearly bad news on top of bad news.
Audi A1 1.4 TFSI among those possibly affected
"We will stop at nothing and nobody. This is a painful process, but it is our only alternative. For us, the only thing that counts is the truth. That is the basis for the fundamental realignment that Volkswagen needs," says Muller bluntly. "The Board of Management of Volkswagen AG deeply regrets this situation and wishes to underscore its determination to systematically continue along the present path of clarification and transparency."
According to our colleagues on Autocar the engines implicated include the 1.4 petrol four-cylinder with Cylinder On Demand technology; three- and four-cylinder Bluemotion diesels could also be on the watchlist.
VW's statement in full:
The Volkswagen Group is moving forward with the clarification of the diesel issue: during the course of internal investigations irregularities were found when determining type approval CO2 levels. Based on present knowledge around 800,000 vehicles from the Volkswagen Group could be affected. An initial estimate puts the economic risks at approximately two billion euros. The Board of Management of Volkswagen AG will immediately start a dialog with the responsible type approval agencies regarding the consequences of these findings. This should lead to a reliable assessment of the legal, and the subsequent economic consequences of this not yet fully explained issue.
Under the ongoing review of all processes and workflows in connection with diesel engines it was established that the CO2 levels and thus the fuel consumption figures for some models were set too low during the CO2 certification process. The majority of the vehicles concerned have diesel engines.
"From the very start I have pushed hard for the relentless and comprehensive clarification of events. We will stop at nothing and nobody. This is a painful process, but it is our only alternative. For us, the only thing that counts is the truth. That is the basis for the fundamental realignment that Volkswagen needs", Matthias Müller, CEO of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, said, and added. "The Board of Management of Volkswagen AG deeply regrets this situation and wishes to underscore its determination to systematically continue along the present path of clarification and transparency."
In cooperation with the responsible authorities, Volkswagen will do everything in its power to clarify the further course of action as quickly as possible and ensure the correct CO2 classification for the vehicles affected.
The safety of the vehicles is in no way compromised. A reliable assessment of the scale of these irregularities is not yet possible. An initial estimate puts the economic risks at approximately two billion euros.
[Sources: Volkswagen; Autocar]