The new head of embattled car manufacturer Volkswagen says the company might not be able to start recalling diesel cars that cheat on emissions tests until January, and that it might take most of 2016 for all repairs to be completed. 

“If all goes according to plan, we can start the recall in January. All the cars should be fixed by the end of 2016,” said new VW CEO, Matthias Mueller, according to Reuters’ translation of German publication Frankfuter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The affected vehicles — around 11 million worldwide — were equipped with “defeat device” software that allows the cars to pass emissions tests even though some of these vehicles were releasing up to 40 times the U.S. allowable standard for some toxins.

Mueller went on to specify that any remedy related to the nearly 500,000 vehicles affected in the U.S. would first have to be approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, which first brought VW’s emissions transgression to light.

In terms of pointing the finger at someone, the Mueller says he believes that only a few employees were involved in the deception, while acknowledging that the company would have to scrutinize all its brands and models in order to recover from the debacle.

In fact, he says an “evolution” would be needed to get the company back on track, and that it could “shine again” in two to three years, Reuters reports.

“This crisis gives us an opportunity to overhaul Volkswagen’s structures,” Mueller said. “We want to make the company slimmer, more decentralized and give the brands more responsibility.”

VW CEO says recall to start in January, be completed end-2016 [Reuters]

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