In a follow-up to the growing US-based scandal involving the discovery of “defeat devices” in Volkswagen diesel cars, now-embattled CEO of the German brand, Martin Winterkorn, has come out with a public apology, issued through a video.
Labelling it as a “misconduct,” the CEO stated that the “irregularities” found in the group’s diesel engines went against the brand’s principles. Winterkorn added that the brand is “working hard” to get the answers that they are currently lacking. “To do that, we are putting everything on the table, as quickly, thoroughly and transparently as possible,” he said.
He went on to say that “manipulation and Volkswagen, that must never be allowed to happen again.” Apologising for the broken trust that the scandal has brought about, the CEO yet again apologised to Volkswagen’s customers, authorities and the general public, further mentioning that the company will do “everything necessary” to regain trust, “step-by-step.”
Explaining that the issue was caused by the mistakes of “a few,” Winterkorn hoped that the public in general would not cast a bad light on the automaker’s other employees. “In our Group, more than 600,000 people work to build the best cars for our customers. I would like to say to our employees, I know just how much dedication, how much true sincerity you bring to your work day after day,” he stated.
“We will get to the bottom of this. We are working very hard on the necessary technical solutions. And we will do everything we can to avert damage to our customers and employees. I give you my word, we will do all of this with the greatest possible openness and transparency,” he vowed.
It was previously reported that Winterkorn’s contract was already unanimously approved for a four-year extension. However, rumours have been circulating about the CEO’s position at the company, which has now turned out to be uncertain. The final outcome will only be known on Friday, when the Supervisory Board is set to meet to finalise the matter of the CEO’s tenure.
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Bravo! I may not agree to VW’s quality but I salute the way they do business. Proton should learn from it and issue formal apology for their problematic cars before huuhaa talkok non-sense like Betul2 Onz….
Cronies right should learn from this to Apologies !!! Not that indo minister that talk shit all the time !!!
Winterkorn, you should apologise to Malaysians as well. We are sold lemons that cannot handle our weather. Always breaking down. Is this what we get when we spend Rm200k?
That’s germans’ (fact) engineering.
VW need more of you to survive.
I will use the DSG story and break it into 2 phases, “Uncertain” & “Dishonesty”.
Uncertain – remember the old days when VW blamed on their Mechatronics? But issue continues even with new Mechatronics replaced. VW got no clue and replaced with new gearbox for customers.
Dishonesty – VW found the DSG issue was caused by SUBSTANDARD clutch pack. Since clutch pack is wear-n-tear component, so they keep quiet and tackle case by case and no recall.
VW declared DSG issue resolved. Yes, they were correct if for those new in the production.
Don’t trust joker that says DSG (wet) no problem. Clutch is always wear-n-tear and requires replacement one.
VW car rocks!
Management super sucks!
I have seen a few of my frens vw after replaed with the new mechatronics have no more such issue. I believe that it doesn’t apply to every car though.
Lol it was vw mistake at the 1st place..n yet u try to twist it around blaming proton again n again..vw did the mistake..and they shud be paid for that..simple as that!
VW did mistake, they admit and apologize. Proton make junk cars for decades, deadly to so Malaysian lives and wallets, don’t they should at least apologize?
Proton should apologize to your parents, if it wasn’t for their faulty cars affecting your mother’s health, she could’ve had a brighter child.
You are wrong. Because of Proton car doing Proton things, and Proton iCare care nothing, the parents got nothing to do at the road side so have sex loh. Also remember poor people no $ for condom, so there you go.
If Toyota was dumped to red the first time in their history for pedal to floor stuck case few yrs ago, which looked like a design (silly) problem… then I would expect that this ‘cheating’ problem would give VW group a huge aftermath.
They had to do this because they are caught! Not really sincere. It has been years where ppl complaint about gear box problem and other quality issue but is not a big deal for them. Now they are caught with heavy fine they have no choice to do this.
Dear Winterkorn
You have conned the people in the US and in other countries. How could we trust VW again judging from what you have done. But one good thing is that you have admitted your expensive mistake.
Trend sekarang bila dah salah kenalah minta maaf. Takde apa yang istimewa pon. Loan pon dah lepas, bulan2 tetap kena bayar.
Why UMNO leader tak payah?
Dear Winterkorn,
Even in Malaysia you have conned people about DSG. When are you going to come clean on DSG?
I thought that DSG issue was resolved? My father’s jetta works great after replaced the mechatronics.
2012 vw cars til present are no longer with dsg issue already. even vgm also show improvement because it provided good service for owners
Krn UMNO leaders tak bodoh pegi beli VW.
Krn bodoh people like you will believe your dear leader
Luckily he didn’t go to church and swear that VW did nothing wrong
Sounds like our PM
when the buying stops the BS can too….
Don’t you think it is a bit too late Mr. Volkswagen CEO Winterkorn. It shows that you and your people DON’T HAVE CODE OF ETHICS.
This professor and doctor is a liar…!!! shame on you.
If big man can lie, imagine the small salesman at Glenmarie
All salesman is liar even others brand, next time, they dnt even have to hire salesman, then when u want purchase car dnt blame that thr is no sales man for u to inquired.
Don’t you think it is a bit too late Mr. Volkswagen CEO Winterkorn. It shows that you and your people DON’T HAVE CODE OF ETHICS. If you do, such thing won’t happened.
All the top management should resign as it happened since 2009 car model until 2015. How many years you cheat people? Do you cheat people around you too, Mr?
Malaysians are even worse off. We got faulty DSG and still VW AG don’t want to admit. Or is it VGM that refuse to admit and say mineral oil boleh selesai the problem
Is your car encounter any dsg issue? My passat works fine, nearly 50k mileage yet encounter any DSG issue.
Frankly speaking, VW may have cheated on their diesel engines CO2 output. How does this concern us end-user? I don’t understand why people wants to bash VW on this matter. I would like to ask those bashers, are you so environmental conscious? If they cheated on the claimed fuel consumption, yes this concern us. When they lied about the reliability of DSG, that concerned us too.
If this was Proton, the righteous “rakyats” will demand the CEO & top management to commit mass seppuku on national TV, the middle management and execs to be ostracised and banned from working in automotive or engineering, the operators and workers to be shunned and treated like Rohingyas, and the cleaner ladies wont have another job and need to stay under the bridge.
The soup kitchen oso wont gip food to these ex-proton staff for “causing hardship for 30 years”.
That would be a good start
U said German’s reliability??? Up my ss!!!!
U punished P1 but accept VW!!!! BS all this, now all OEMs is on equal BS terms!!!!
Toyota – too many recalls
Honda – airbag Takatagate
VW – defeatgate
Boikot sampai mampus!!!! Boikot sampai bungkus!!!!
Are you sorry because of the mistake or you’re sorry because you got caught?
nicely said
kuang, kuang, kuang………
Must be kena sabo by Ferdinand Piech.
Owners know these cars are garbage, but GERMAN brand carries alot of weight, just like Captain America. You people are so stupid.