Embattled Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn resigned Wednesday, days after USA regulators accused the automaker of cheating on emissions tests. Above all, I am stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen Group, WInterkorn said in a statement.
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He said the company needed a fresh start, which can only happen with his resignation.
The stock market barely flinched at the news.
Winterkorn made the announcement in a statement published on the company’s website.
His contract was scheduled to be extended by two years through 2018 at a meeting this Friday of the supervisory board.
The EPA and the California Air Resources Board uncovered the defeat device software in the Volkswagen cars after independent analysis at West Virginia University raised questions about the cars’ emissions levels.
The EPA has said Volkswagen could face up to an $18 billion fine for its pollution violations.
The Department for Transport is to re-test cars in the United Kingdom to compare their laboratory results with real-world driving emissions following the Volkswagen scandal.
Some local Volkswagen owners say they’re devastated by the news.
Dobrindt said it was not known how numerous 11 million vehicles affected were in Europe, adding that other manufacturers’ vehicles would be checked, BBC reported. The system is very common in larger Diesel cars including those from Volkswagen.
Volkswagen’s emissions cheating scandal is getting worse fast, and the executive board is in full-speed amputation mode to stop the spread of the damage.
At least 34 lawsuits have already been filed in the U.S.by people claiming their cars are now less valuable because of the scandal.
The European carmakers’ association ACEA said that while it recognised the gravity of the affair, “there is no evidence to suggest that it’s a problem across the whole industry”.
BMW’s shares dropped Thursday following this report, down nearly 7 percent on the news.
The sources said it would give initial findings from an internal investigation into who was responsible for programming some diesel cars to detect when they were being tested and alter the running of the engines to hide their true emissions.
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Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said the Government was taking the ” unacceptable actions of VW extremely seriously”. South Korean officials called company representatives to Seoul to discuss the issue.
