Volkswagen held a press conference on Thursday to reveal new information about the rigging of diesel and gasoline engines, which has the German automaker embroiled in a big scandal since September.
No shocking statements were made, but we’ve learned that the installation of special software on 11 million vehicles to defeat emissions tests was “not a one-off mistake,” but rather a “whole chain of errors” that went uninterrupted, according to Volkswagen Chairman Hans Dieter Pötsch.
The cheating began as far back as 2005 when Volkswagen set out to solidify its presence in the U.S. diesel market. And over the years, the company has kept a mindset “that tolerated breaches of rules.”
Meanwhile, after warning last month that CO2 emissions and fuel consumption figures may have been rigged in 800,000 cars, VW now believes that only about 36,000 units are affected.
As for the five employees suspected of tax evasion, the investigation is still ongoing.
Volkswagen AG CEO Mathias Muller expects that the correct decisions will be taken at the correct level, while their tighter control system will make sure nothing similar can ever happen again.