Volkswagen boss steps down over emissions scandal

“This is a self-made crisis fueled exclusively by (Volkswagen’s) greed and its attempts to try and save a shortsighted nickel”, Hilliard says.

Volkswagen admitted to using so-called “defeat devices”, software algorithms that artificially lowered emissions output during testing, to bypass U.S. environmental regulations only after the EPA approached the company with West Virginia University’s findings.

As Pope Francis prepared to speak on Capitol Hill in favor of climate change reform, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn announced his untimely resignation.

Winterkorn himself and the Executive Committee of Volkswagen’s Supervisory Board both maintain that the ousted CEO had no knowledge of the “manipulation of emissions data” and that those involved in the scandal “will be subject to the full consequences”.

Martin Winterkorn said that although he was “not aware of any wrongdoing on my part”, he accepted responsibility for the scandal and said that the company needs “a fresh start”. The agency reported that VW vehicles contained software that turns off emissions controls when driving normally and turns them on when the auto is undergoing an emissions test.

VOLKSWAGEN may be the subject of Britain’s largest legal group claim following the emissions scandal. It’s also setting aside 6.5 billion euros, or 7.3 billion United States dollars, in its third-quarter accounts.

Winterkorn said VW must continue the process of ensuring “clarification and transparency”. And in my German words, we have totally screwed up, ” the head of Volkswagen’s USA division, Michael Horn, said Monday while unveiling a new Passat model in New York. The company’s rise to global company is inextricably linked to his name. Other governments from Europe to South Korea have begun their own investigations, and law firms have already filed class-action suits on behalf of customers. Besides the EPA, the US Justice Department, the prosecutor of New York and environmental authorities in Canada also are investigating the way Volkswagen manipulated the tests to measure the amount of pollutants from diesel cars.