Volkswagen Group Australia's response to the Victorian Coronial Inquest

ZETLAND, AUSTRALIA – Nov 15, 2013: Our sincere thoughts and sympathies remain with the Ryan family in what are tragic and very distressing circumstances.

Volkswagen Group Australia has refrained from making detailed public statements on the Coronial Inquiry out of respect for the family and the Coronial process and will refrain from further comment.

We thank the Coroner for the thoroughness of the inquiry and the manner in which it was conducted.

Volkswagen Group Australia has fully cooperated with authorities and has actively assisted the Coroner in her investigations.

Volkswagen Group Australia acknowledges the Coroner’s findings that the vehicle did not contribute to the cause of the accident.

Volkswagen Group Australia repeated this position throughout the investigation despite a number of reports which tried to link the tragic accident with a completely unrelated recall matter.

Volkswagen Group Australia would like to reiterate that there is no correlation between the Coronial inquest and the recent reports concerning the current transmission recalls.

The vehicle at the centre of the Coronial Inquest had a manual transmission with no identified issues while the recalls only relate to certain Volkswagen vehicles with DSG transmissions.

Customer safety and satisfaction are the highest priorities for Volkswagen Group Australia and have been so since Volkswagen began operations here more than 60 years ago.

Since 1953, Volkswagen has sold more than 800,000 vehicles in Australia and has more than 300,000 vehicles on the road today and is one of the top ten selling brands in Australia.