Britain will re-test cars to see if their emissions figures have been cheated in light of the Volkswagen scandal.
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A member of Volkswagen’s supervisory board said Thursday that he expects further resignations at the German automaker in the wake of the scandal over rigged us emissions tests.
The chief executive of Volkswagen (VW) has refused to resign despite an escalation of the emissions scandal following the VW’s admission that 11 million of its vehicles have been fitted with a device designed to cheat emission tests. Without presupposing guilt, that is the right step to take against both GM and VW, if for no other reason than to make it clear that people who commit crimes in their company’s name bear personal culpability – the concept behind Atty.
“It is premature to comment on whether any specific immediate surveillance measures are also necessary in Europe and [on] the implications for vehicles sold by Volkswagen in Europe”, said a spokesperson for the European Commission.
“Mueller has been a longtime insider at VW and I still wonder if that will be enough to quell criticism that they’re not really taking this that seriously”, DeLorenzo said.
German public prosecutors have considered an investigation, with USA authorities also said to be planning criminal investigations. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said Volkswagen could face penalties of up to $18 billion.
As part of the probe, the group will send subpoenas to Volkswagen, the spokeswoman said.
Mr Winterkorn quit VW on Wednesday, saying he accepted responsibility for “irregularities found in diesel engines” but had not been aware of any wrongdoing.
Mueller, promoted to VW’s executive board in March, had been viewed as a favorite of family patriarch Ferdinand Piech who reportedly sought to install him as VW CEO in place of Winterkorn earlier this year. They ended the day only very modestly higher by 0.58 per cent.
There has been speculation in German newspapers that Matthias Mueller would be named as the next chief executive.
“In the end, Piech, even though he’s not chairman of the board, got his pick all along, so that’s a little ironic”, said Matt DeLorenzo, managing editor of Kelley Blue Book, in an interview with USA Today.
CEO Martin Winterkorn has apologized profusely, twice, and the company has set aside 6.5 billion euros ($7.3 billion) to cover the cost of recalls and other efforts to limit the damage, trashing its profit forecast for the year in the process.
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What they discovered was rather baffling: The BMW’s emission results during the test drives matched or came in under what the vehicles produced in laboratory tests.
