VW investigation likely to take months

  • 02/10/2015
(Reuters)
(Reuters)

German auto giant Volkswagen says that an independent probe it has commissioned into the global pollution-cheating scam is likely to take "several months".

VW, which has admitted to fitting sophisticated software in its diesel engines to skew emission testing, has commissioned US legal firm Jones Day to conduct an independent investigation into the affair that has rocked the entire automobile sector.

Key members of the automaker's supervisory "are of the opinion that the investigations will take several months before they can be completed," the company said in a statement on Thursday (local time).

As a result of the time and energy that the investigation is likely to need, the supervisory board's steering committee had decided to postpone an extraordinary general meeting that was originally going to be held on November 9, the statement continued.

"It is unrealistic, from a point of view of both time and content, that we will be able within only a few weeks to come up with the informed answers that shareholders can justifiably expect," VW said.

"Furthermore, the steering committee is of the opinion that the employees involved will be needed to clear up the matter and draw up solutions to the problems. Their work should not be made even more difficult by having to prepare a shareholders' meeting at the same time," it said.

AFP