VW CEO says diesel talks could take months

Almost six months after Volkswagen AG’s emissions cheating became public, Chief Executive Officer Matthias Mueller said talks with U.S. regulators on fixing the rigged engines may take a few more weeks or months.

Mueller wouldn’t say whether Volkswagen would be able to come up with a solution by March 24, the deadline set last week by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer. The recall applies to 600,000 diesels still on the road in the U.S., where talks are dragging on and the German carmaker may need to buy back some vehicles.

“The discussions are going on, and the constructive dialog makes some progress, so we will see what happens during the next weeks and months,” the CEO said Monday in an interview with Bloomberg Television before the Geneva International Motor Show.

The cheating on diesel emissions tests in the U.S. by Europe’s biggest carmaker came to light in September. The lack of a firm time frame on an agreement with U.S. regulators suggests Volkswagen is still struggling to find a way out of the crisis. The carmaker has set aside $7.4 billion to repair 11 million vehicles worldwide and started a European recall already, but fines and civil damage awards are likely to cost tens of billions of euros more.

Bloomberg News

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 12:01 PM with the headline "VW CEO says diesel talks could take months."