VOLKSWAGEN’S vehicles affected by its emissions scandal will begin to be recalled in January, new CEO Matthias Muller said today.
All the cars will be fixed by the end of 2016, he told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
The Volkswagen boss admitted it would take two to three years for the company to mend its reputation, and the rebuild process will likely lead to a streamlining of its various sub-brands – including Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini and Bugatti.
An internal investigation will begin studying the group’s various brands and models as a means of singling out what is vital and what is not – using Bugatti as a particular example.
As a result, the highly anticipated Veyron successor and next-generation Phaeton could be put on hold.
This follows earlier news when Muller warned of ‘painful’ project funding cuts.
All investments that Volkswagen does not deem necessary will be abandoned or at the very least suspended, while any future investment in technology, plant and vehicles will be put ‘under scrutiny’.
Muller also stressed that only a few employees had been involved in the firm’s emissions cheating.
He was adamant that the company would do its upmost to keep employee jobs secure. ‘We will do everything to ensure that Volkswagen will stand for good and secure jobs in the future,’ he said.
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