A top Volkswagen executive, Herbert Diess, apologized at the Tokyo Auto Show on Wednesday for the automaker’s emissions-cheating scandal, promising to win back customer trust and said it will delay the launch of a diesel vehicle in Japan.
Sven Stein, the head of VW’s Japan division who appeared at the VW booth before Diess, bowed for several seconds in a Japanese style of apology.
Diess, who is chief executive of passenger cars at VW, made no bow, AP reported.
“On behalf of my entire company, I’d like to apologize,” said Diess, a recent hire from BMW, stressing that the priority is to fix the problem, uncover what happened and make sure the scandal never happens again.
Volkswagen is engulfed in a crisis after US authorities found its diesel vehicles had software installed that allowed the cars to cheat emissions tests.
On the road, the vehicles were in fact emitting pollutants at levels many times higher than advertised. The automaker faces recalls for millions of vehicles and punishing fines.
