Before Volkswagen chairman Dr. Herbert Diess explained in detail how the embattled automaker was going to redefine every aspect of the company, he had to address the elephant in the room.
Staring at a Chelsea theater packed with hundreds of journalists and photographers at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas on Tuesday night, as part of his keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2016, Diess profusely apologized to the United States for Volkswagen's emissions scandal, which affected 500,000 cars in the country.
"We disappointed our customers and the American people, for which I am truly sorry, and for which I apologize," Diess said onstage. "We at Volkswagen are disappointed that this could happen within the company we love. I assure you we are doing everything we can to make things right and we are working night and day to find effective technical remedies for our customers and authorities worldwide."
Having already been given a green light on a massive recall plan to make 8.5 million affected VWs in Europe comply with emissions regulations within 2016, the automaker has yet to do the same in the U.S.
Diess said Tuesday night that the set of emissions regulations in the U.S. is different, specifically mentioning that the country is "more demanding in terms of nitrogen oxide and less demanding in terms of CO2."
That being said, he said the company is working hard to present an acceptable package to U.S. authorities, CARB (California Air Resources Board) and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency).
"We are confident that we will find good solutions for affected U.S. vehicles and our valued customers," Diess said.
He added: "Once again, we are committed on making things right and we are focused on ensuring that something like this could never happen again at Volkswagen."
After addressing its ongoing scandal for the first three minutes, Diess used the rest of his time onstage to explain the "new Volkswagen," which he said will be moving towards zero emissions and will stand for everything from affordable electric mobility to fully-connected vehicles, automated driving and an entirely new user experience.
VW proceeded to reveal its new connected vehicles, the e-Golf Touch and BUDD-e concept.
