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VW US Boss Offers 'Sincere Apology' For Cheating

Volkswagen's top US executive has offered a "sincere apology" for the car maker's use of software to cheat emissions tests.

Chief executive Michael Horn told a US congressional committee that the installation of the on-board computer software in nearly 500,000 "clean diesel" cars was "deeply troubling".

"On behalf of our company, my colleagues in Germany and myself, I would like to offer a sincere apology for Volkswagen's use of a software programme that served to defeat the regular emissions testing regime," he said.

"We have broken the trust of our customers, dealerships and employees, as well as the public and regulators."

Mr Horn said he first learned VW's diesel cars had issues with dirty emissions in 2014, but said he was unaware of the cheating software until a day before the scheme was publicly revealed last month.

The 51-year-old denied that top corporate official either in Germany or in the US knew about the software.

He said there was never a boardroom discussion about cheating emissions testing.

"To my understanding this was not a corporate decision, this was something individuals did," he told the committee.

He blamed the cheat on "a couple" of software developers in Germany.

Mr Horn's appearance on Capitol Hill comes after prosecutors searched VW headquarters in Germany on Thursday in an attempt to establish who authorised the software.

They said the searches were intended to "secure documents and data storage devices" which could explain how the manipulation of the tests was carried out.

Mr Horn said VW plans to withdraw applications seeing US emissions certification for its 2016 model Jettas, Golfs, Passats and Beetles with diesel engines.

By doing so, the firm is leaving thousands of diesel vehicles stranded at ports across the US, and leaving dealers with no new diesel cars to sell.

Mr Horn said the company does not yet have an approved recall plan for cars that have the cheating software. He added that any fix could take "one or two years" to complete.

VW acknowledged the deception to US regulators on 3 September.

Since then, the company has suspended four members of staff over the affair, which is set to lead to a recall of 11 million vehicle worldwide .