VW starts journey to win back Americans

Detroit

EVER since Volkswagen admitted in September to cheating on diesel emissions tests in the United States, its sales and grand plans for growth in the US market have nose-dived dramatically.

Now, executives of the German carmaker are embarking on what is perhaps the ultimate hard sell - trying to win back consumers at the annual Detroit auto show and, later this week, persuading regulators that VW has found a way to fix the problem.

The campaign started on Sunday with the first public appearance in the US by its chief executive, Matthias Mueller, since the emissions scandal snowballed into the biggest crisis in Volkswagen's history.

Mr Mueller faces multiple challenges - broken trust with car owners, frayed relations with de…