Volkswagen said on
Wednesday it "sincerely and honestly" apologized for breaking the
trust of the American public, as its chief executive tried to agree a fix with
U.S. authorities for hundreds of thousands of cars rigged to cheat emissions
tests.
CEO Matthias Mueller, on his first U.S. visit since the
emissions-cheating scandal erupted in September, is meeting the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington, D.C. in an attempt to begin drawing a
line under the crisis.
Mueller said on Sunday he believed a new catalytic converter system
could be fitted to most affected U.S. vehicles in a solution he believed might
satisfy regulators.
However, the meeting with the EPA risked being overshadowed by an
interview in which Mueller appeared to play down the seriousness of the
cheating by Europe's biggest carmaker.
In comments aired by National Public Radio (NPR), Mueller blamed the
scandal on a misunderstanding and called it a technical, not an ethical,
problem.
The remarks, coupled with the time it has taken Mueller to visit the
United States since being made CEO in September, drew criticism in the United
States and raised fresh questions over Volkswagen's handling of the crisis.
A union source close to the German company's supervisory board said on Wednesday
he was "astonished" by Mueller's remarks.
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