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 In written testimony submitted to a congressional oversight panel
a day ahead of Thursday's hearing, President and CEO of Volkswagen
Group of America Michael Horn said: "In the spring of 2014 ... I was
told that there was a possible emissions non-compliance that could
be remedied.
"I was also informed that the company engineers would work with the
agencies to resolve the issue," he said, without identifying the
people providing him with the information.
That is about 18 months before the company admitted to U.S.
regulators it used software to cheat tests, and is likely to add to
criticism it has not acted swiftly enough to tackle its wrongdoing.
Almost three weeks after it admitted publicly to rigging U.S.
emissions tests, Europe's largest carmaker is under huge pressure to
identify those responsible, fix affected vehicles and clarify
exactly how and where the cheating happened.
 Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported on Thursday that
Volkswagen's "cheat" software was switched on in Europe.
The company has previously said that, while the software was
installed in around 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide, it was not
active in the majority of them.
Volkswagen was not immediately available to comment on the
Sueddeutsche report.
It was not until Sept. 3, 2015, that Volkswagen told U.S. regulators
it had installed so-called "defeat devices" in some diesel engines
to mask their true level of toxic emissions. U.S. regulators made
public the wrongdoing on Sept. 18.
The biggest business crisis in Volkswagen's 78-year history has
wiped more than a third off its share price, forced out its
long-time chief executive and sent shockwaves through both the
global car industry and the German establishment.
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In the written testimony published on Wednesday, Horn said
Volkswagen had withdrawn its U.S. certification application for some
model year 2016 vehicles over a software feature that should have
been disclosed to regulators as an auxiliary emissions control
device.
Volkswagen has come under fire from authorities and analysts on both
sides of the Atlantic for its handling of the crisis.
The company's new chairman said on Wednesday it would take "some
time" to get to the bottom of the matter.
Volkswagen has suspended more than 10 senior managers, including
three top engineers, as part of an internal investigation. It has
also hired U.S. law firm Jones Day to conduct an external inquiry.
Some analysts and investors have questioned whether company veterans
such as new CEO Matthias Mueller and new chairman Hans Dieter
Poetsch will introduce the sweeping changes in business practices
they think are necessary to restore Volkswagen's reputation.
(Writing by Mark Potter; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
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