VW's Scandal Leads to First Loss in 15 Years

Volkswagen's new chief executive, Herbert Diess, apologized at the Tokyo Motor Show Wednesday for the automaker's emissions-cheating scandal, promising to win back customer trust, and said it will delay the launch of a diesel vehicle in Japan. The head of VW's Japan division appeared at the VW booth before Diess and bowed for several seconds in a Japanese style of apology. Diess made no bow. "On behalf of my entire company, I'd like to apologize," said Diess, a recent hire from BMW, stressing that the priority is to fix the problem, uncover what happened, and make sure it never happens again.

This comes as the company reported a net loss of $1.83 billion in the third quarter as earnings took a hit from $7.4 billion in set-asides for recalls and fines connected to the scandal. The Guardian reports it's the first time the company has posted a quarterly loss in at least 15 years. The company, which has admitted installing test-cheating software in 11 million vehicles, says full-year profits will probably be "down significantly," but sales revenue is still forecast to rise, reports the BBC. (Leonardo DiCaprio is producing a movie about the scandal.)