|
 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 steps to improve oversight
of engine-software development to avoid any future emissions test
manipulations.
Volkswagen hoped to reach agreement with U.S. 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 percent
and Chief Executive Matthias Mueller said he was confident that
buyers would get over 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.
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 in Wolfsburg,
Mueller said he would apologize 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 its deception in the
United States.
LEGAL AND ETHICAL BOUNDARIES
"No business justifies crossing legal and ethical boundaries,"
Poetsch said. "Even though we cannot prevent misconduct by
individuals once and for all, in future it will be very difficult to
bypass our processes."
Poetsch said the external investigation by U.S. 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 limited number of people took part
in the deception. But he added: "We are talking here not about a
one-off mistake but a chain of errors."
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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," 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.
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 paralyze us," Mueller said.
"Although the current situation is serious, this company will not be
broken by it."
The scandal forced out VW's long-time chief executive and wiped 13
percent, or 10 billion euros ($11 billion), off its market value.
Shares in Volkswagen were 1.5 percent down on Thursday afternoon.
($1 = 0.9140 euros)
(Writing by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Harro ten Wolde, James
Regan and Giles Elgood)
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