大衆汽車就尾氣造假門道歉

The chief executive of Volkswagen has apologised and ordered an external investigation into findings that the carmaker cheated on US emissions tests to make its vehicles appear less polluting.

有調查結果稱，大衆汽車(Volkswagen)在美國汽車尾氣排放檢測中造假，以使該品牌汽車看上去沒有排放那麼多的污染物。大衆首席執行官文德恩(Martin Winterkorn)已就此道歉並下令展開外部調查。

In a statement on Sunday, Martin Winterkorn, chief executive of the German carmaker, said the board of management took the findings “very seriously”.

在上週日的一份聲明中，文德恩表示，大衆管理委員會對待這些調查結果的態度“非常嚴肅”。

He added: “I personally am deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and the public. We will co-operate fully with the responsible agencies, with transparency and urgency, to clearly, openly, and completely establish all of the facts of this case.”

他補充稱：“我們辜負了顧客和公衆的信任，我個人對此深表遺憾。我們將以透明和緊迫的方式與負責機構通力合作，以明確、公開和徹底地查明事實真相。”

The company also confirmed on Sunday evening that it had suspended from sale cars with its popular 4-cylinder “clean diesel” engine. VW said it had halted sales of new, two-litre TDI vehicles, as well as any certified pre-owned versions of the affected models at dealerships, going back to 2009.

大衆上週日晚間還證實，它已暫停銷售搭載頗受歡迎的四缸“清潔柴油”發動機的車輛。該公司表示，已暫停銷售搭載2.0升渦輪增壓柴油直噴(TDI)發動機的新車、以及經銷商手裏一切受影響車型的經過認證的二手車——這些車型可追溯到2009年。

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday said diesel variants of several VW and Audi models sold in the US over six years — including the VW Passat, Beetle and Audi A3 — had been fitted with sophisticated algorithms designed to deceive the laboratory testing regime.

美國國家環境保護局(Environmental Protection Agency)上週五表示，過去6年，在美銷售的幾款柴油版大衆及奧迪(Audi)車型安裝了複雜的算法，以騙過實驗室檢測系統。

The authorities ordered VW to recall 482,000 cars because of the use of so-called defeat devices — which use software to detect when the car is being tested and runs treatments to reduce nitrogen oxides. Once out on the road, the cars were discovered to produce pollutants up to 40 times the legal limits.

美國當局命令大衆召回48.2萬輛安裝了所謂欺騙裝置的汽車，這些裝置使用軟件來識別汽車是否在接受檢測，並在接受檢測時啓動保護系統減少氮氧化物排放。一旦上路，這些汽車排放的污染物最高可達法定上限的40倍。

The discovery leaves the German carmaker — which has admitted to using the defeat devices — potentially facing billions of dollars in fines and warranty costs, possible criminal charges for executives and class-action lawsuits from US drivers.

這些調查結果可能會讓大衆（它已承認使用了上述欺騙裝置）面臨幾十億美元罰款和保修費用，其高管可能遭遇刑事訴訟，而該公司可能面臨美國車主的集體訴訟。