Volkswagen boss to face Congress Thursday
House panel to hold 1st hearing on scandal
Volkswagen will be pressed to explain the origins and details behind its emissions scandal Thursday when a House subcommittee holds the first public hearing into the matter.
The German automaker’s U.S. boss and Environmental Protection Agency officials will take the witness stand before the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations panel less than a month after the scandal erupted.
Michael Horn, CEO of Volkswagen’s U.S. operations, will face questions about manipulative software installed in up to 11 million diesel cars worldwide— which fooled regulators into believing that the vehicles were compliant with emissions standards.
Horn could be helped by the candor that he showed immediately after the scandal broke, admitting that Volks- wagen “totally screwed up“just three days after the EPA exposed the scandal. But VW also presents a risk for a company that’s already facing a slew of classaction lawsuits and government investigations, including a U.S. Justice Department criminal probe.
What’s more, lawmakers are likely to press Horn for details on the deception and cover-up that unfolded, which Volkswagen has repeatedly said it’s still assembling.
“One wrong remark and you can put yourself on a slippery slope,” AutoPacific analyst Dave Sullivan said.
Volkswagen has hired law firm Jones Day to investigate its handling of the matter but has said repeatedly that it does not have all the answers yet.
But the company’s new chief executive officer, Matthias Mueller, told a German newspaper earlier this week that the emissions manipulation originated from the company’s operations in Germany, not the U.S., according to CNBC.