FILE - In this Sept. 29, 2015, file photo, people leave Volkswagen car factory in Wolfsburg, Germany. More than a decade ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency helped develop a technology that ultimately allowed an independent laboratory to catch Volkswagen’s elaborate cheating on car emissions tests. But EPA did not apply that technology on its own tests of diesel passenger cars and instead focused on trucks, thus missing its best chance to foil the German carmaker’s deception as early as 2007. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File) Volkswagen has canceled its entire 2016 diesel line-up in the U.S., and has withdrawn an official application to sell cars with engines that number among the 11 million that include features designed to defeat emissions testing.
The decision was made ahead of testimony before Congress by Volkswagen CEO Michael Horn, the written copies of which say that the embattled company is working with the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board to find an acceptable "emissions control strategy"
"We have withdrawn the application for certification of our model year 2016 vehicles," Horn said in his written testimony. "We are working with the agencies to continue the certification process."
Horn, who took over for former CEO Martin Winterkorn in September, apologized for VW's admitted deception, the latest in a series of apologies by high-ranking Volkswagen executives as the expected costs and consequences of the company's emissions-defeating scheme continue to mount.
It remains unclear what fix is available to the company, with some experts claiming a software fix is available, while others say a more expensive and time-consuming hardware fix could be in the works.
Karl Brauer, a Kelly Blue Book analyst, told the Los Angeles Times that the announcement "suggests that the fix is probably not going to be easy. It suggests that the fix involves so much challenge that they're not even going to try to make the 2016s work."
Volkswagen employs more than 6,000 Americans at 60 facilities across the U.S., including more than 2,200 in Chattanooga, a number that is set to grow as the automaker expands the plant to support production of an expected sport utility vehicle dubbed the Crossblue.
Horn said the cars involved in the scandal, including nearly 500,000 sold in the U.S from 2009 to 2015 that include the 2.0-liter diesel engine, are safe and legal to drive while VW works out a remedy. However, the value of those cars has fallen as the scope of the scandal became clear, and some owners worry that any remedy could reduce the cars' performance.