Piech-Porsche Clan Rallies Behind VW’s Mueller in Diesel Scandal

The Piech-Porsche family that controls Volkswagen Group has reiterated its support for VW CEO Matthias Mueller after he failed to sway U.S. regulators last week to approve a fix for VW diesels that were rigged to cheat emission tests.

VW also refutes a report by Bild am Sonntag claiming some board members are growing unhappy with Mueller’s leadership, Reuters reports. Top members of VW’s supervisory board are set to meet on Tuesday to discuss progress in resolving the scandal.

Critics say the company waited too long before arranging a high-level meeting with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They add that Mueller also erred in an interview last week by appearing to minimize the serious of the problem.

EPA says VW has not yet presented an acceptable plan to fix the U.S. diesels. The agency’s hard line contrasts with VW’s reception in Germany. Officials there quickly accepted a proposal to use a simple software update to fix 8.5 million vehicles fitted with similar evasive devices.

EPA discovered in mid-September that VW had fitted about 600,000 diesel-powered vehicles to pass nitrogen oxides emission tests but emit as much as 40 times the allowable levels of NOx under normal driving conditions.