Volkswagen’s most recent annual report outlines how Winterkorn, its leader since 2007, could theoretically collect two significant payouts.
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“I am shocked by the events of the past few days”, Winterkorn said in a statement released Wednesday. It also thanked him for his “towering contributions” to the company.
“The whole region is used to being lifted by this company”, he said.
After the United States announced the probe against Volkswagen, Wolfsburg mayor Klaus Mohrs quickly said that it was “in the interest of the town” for the issue to be cleared up rapidly.
Mueller has a majority on the 20-member supervisory panel, the source said. The 68-year-old said he was “not aware of any wrong doing” on his part.
The public trust was destroyed last week when an underfunded NGO proved that software in VW diesel cars were using a “defeat device” to cheat emissions tests in the US.
He has been Porsche chief executive since 2010 and a member of parent Volkswagen’s management board since March.
The chief executives of Porsche, Matthias Mueller, and Audi, Rupert Stadler, as well as VW brand, Herbert Diess, are seen as the front-runners, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday, with Mueller viewed as the favorite.
According to the U.S. authorities, VW has admitted that it equipped about 482,000 cars in the United States with sophisticated software that covertly turns off pollution controls when the auto is being driven.
The EPA also said it plans on pressuring the automaker into recalling the roughly half-a-million Volkswagen and Audi TDIs in the US, which could be a devastating blow to a company that is already struggling to get a foothold in the American market.
But former Renault boss Louis Schweitzer laid bare the worst fears of major manufacturers on Thursday when he told French business daily Les Echos: ‘It would be disastrous to conclude that diesel must die’.
Matthias Mueller comes from an engineering background and certainly knows the brands involved, having joined VW-owned Audi in 1977.
Alongside Mueller’s appointment, the supervisory board also approved changes to the management structure aimed at scaling back complexity and strengthening brands and regions.
Later, Mr Dobrindt said 2.8 million vehicles in Germany were among those containing the software at the centre of the emissions scandal.
“There must be people responsible for allowing the manipulation of emission levels to happen”, he said.
In response, the Department for Transport confirmed it would retest emissions on Volkswagen cars. “That’s being further investigated in the current talks with Volkswagen”.
“We will overcome this crisis”, he said Friday, adding that the carmaker could “emerge stronger from the crisis in the long term” if it learns from its mistakes.
Chattanooga was selected in 2008 as the site of Volkswagen’s first US plant in decades.
After the war the Wolfsburg plant began producing the Type 1 – later renamed the Beetle – which in 1972 took the title of the world’s best-selling vehicle.
He is credited with expanding Porsche and expects to increase sales to 200,000 vehicles this year.
The decision to expand the plant to build the new vehicle was helped by a state and local incentives package that could be worth up to $300 million. “But we not getting anything from Volkswagen so we don’t have anything to pass on to them”.
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Friedrich Geiger contributed to this article.
