Volkswagen stated on Thursday it has been granted 90 more days to test its compliance programs needed under a criminal plea agreement with the U.S. government after its emissions cheating scandal.
The extension indicates that an independent compliance auditor, Larry Thompson, will monitor the automaker until September 2020.
Thompson, a former deputy U.S. attorney general, was installed in 2017 after the automaker was caught in emissions scandal. He and his team have been seeking to make sure that VW’s revamped compliance procedures are working.
Volkswagen stated it had made a request for the extension to the U.S. Department of Justice and Thompson, and that they had authorized the additional time.
Hiltrud Werner, VW’s chief of integrity and legal affairs, stated this was about getting it right.
“In a global company as large and complex as Volkswagen, we are required to have enough time to be careful and rigorous in all our testing,” Werner stated.
The Department of Justice didn’t immediately replied to a request for comment.
