Volkswagen does not expect additional costs from fixing U.S. cars capable of cheating diesel emissions tests, CEO Matthias Mueller says.
"We have prepared 6.7 billion euros ($10.37 billion Cdn) for the repair process of all the cars globally. We suppose that that should be enough," Mueller said in an interview with Reuters TV at the Detroit auto show on Monday.
Mueller had said on Sunday that VW would propose to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a new catalytic converter system that VW says could be fitted to about 430,000 rigged U.S. cars.
Mueller is due to meet EPA administrator Gina McCarthy in Washington on Wednesday, where he plans to make the proposal which he said includes technical solutions, a "theoretical" offer to buy back cars and a time schedule.
"We are looking forward to the talks on Wednesday with great confidence," he said, citing "great progress" achieved in
discussions with the EPA in past weeks. "We hope that our offer on the technical solutions and timing proposals will be accepted in foreseeable time."
11 million vehicles affected
The company first acknowledged in September that it used software to cheat on diesel emissions tests in the U.S. The software was included in its diesel cars and SUVs sold since the 2009 model year, as well as some recent diesel models sold by the VW-owned Audi and Porsche brands.
Worldwide, the company says cheating software was included in more than 11 million vehicles.
Christopher Grundler, director of the EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, said he didn't know if a VW
proposed catalytic converter will fix 430,000 diesel vehicles.
"We'd have to look at it," Grundler said in a interview on the sidelines of the auto show. "Given the circumstances and the past history, we're not going to approve anything until it's thoroughly tested and we're convinced that it addressed the non-compliance and its good for owners."
Separately, Mueller expressed optimism about VW's sales outlook this year after Europe's biggest automotive group
suffered the first drop in deliveries at its namesake brand as well as group level in more than a decade last year.
Asked whether he was bracing for another drop in sales, the CEO said: "We have some difficult political situations all over the world, so we will see what will happen. We have a very attractive product portfolio all over the brands, so we are confident we will be successful in 2016."
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