A federal court judge has slammed Volkswagen for failing to explain why they fitted cars with emissions "defeat devices", and has warned company executives may be forced to take the stand over the matter.
The Volkswagen Group is currently the subject of court proceedings brought about by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and two law firms representing the owners of nearly 100,000 affected Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda vehicles in Australia.
The emissions scandal erupted in 2015 when the US Environmental Protection Agency discovered many Volkswagen cars sold in America were fitted with software designed to evade government pollution controls.
In September, Judge Lindsay Foster ordered Volkswagen to explain under oath why the software was developed and installed in the first place.
At a hearing in the Sydney Federal Court on Thursday, Judge Foster said the company had not answered the question that went to the "heart of the case".
"There is a reason why this was done that your client has to answer," Judge Foster said.
"If there is some legitimate engineering reason, let's hear it."
Volkswagen's barrister, Ruth Higgins SC, said they did not know why the software was installed because they were not involved.
The judge was not satisfied with the answer.
"Why was this done? How difficult can this be? Why was it done in the first place? Why at all?" he demanded.
Judge Foster has given Volkswagen two more weeks to answer the question, ahead of next year's class action.
"Plenty of people did know about this," said Judge Foster, pointing out that senior people had to have directed the research and installation of the software.
"That is being denied," Dr Higgins responded. She argued they had answered the Judge's question.
'Attitude of some arrogance'
Judge Foster had also asked Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda whether the software installed in Australia, Europe and the US was all the same.
While lawyers for the Volkswagen Group responded, the court heard Skoda and Audi had failed to comply with a court order and had not answered the question.
"They simply cannot do this. It's not the first time and it displays an attitude of some arrogance," Judge Foster said.
Judge Foster said the respondents appeared "to please themselves with which point they'll come back with".
The Australian class action will begin in March.
