Volkswagen's U.S. chief to testify before House panel on October 8

Volkwagen AG's (VOWG_p.DE) top U.S. executive will testify on Oct. 8 before a U.S. congressional oversight panel about the German automaker's emissions cheating scandal involving 11 million vehicles worldwide, a panel spokesman said on Thursday.

Michael Horn, president and chief executive of Volkswagen Group of America, will appear before an investigations panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee for proceedings scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT). Lawmakers will also hear from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Europe's largest carmaker has admitted to cheating on U.S. diesel emissions tests in the United States with a software algorithm, known as a "defeat device," which switched on emissions control systems during regulatory tests. Volkswagen also says it manipulated emissions results in Europe.

The scandal has prompted the EPA to toughen and broaden emissions tests for all automakers in an effort to thwart any other cheating activities, a move that could add to industry costs and higher regulatory hurdles.

The committee's Republican and Democratic leaders have already asked Volkswagen and the EPA to turn over all relevant documents in preparation for a comprehensive congressional probe that aides say could last months and lead to new federal legislation on car emissions.

"The American people want to know why these devices were in place, how the decision was made to install them, and how they went undetected for so long. We will get them those answers," said U.S. Representative Tim Murphy, a Pennsylvania Republican who will preside at the hearing as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

Representative Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican who chairs the full committee, said lawmakers would not tolerate Volkswagen's "double whammy of betrayal" against regulators and consumers.

"The very notion of a carmaker intentionally violating our environmental laws is beyond belief," he said.

There was no immediate word on which EPA officials would testify.

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emissions, Europe, EPA, Republican, Democratic, Volkswagen Group of America

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