Volkswagen board member expects further resignations over emission scandal

It is not yet clear to what extent the scandal affects other brands in the Volkswagen Group, which has 12 brands in all, including Seat, Audi, Skoda and Porsche.

Martin Winterkorn on 23 September 2015 resigned as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Volkswagen.

Independent auto dealerships sued Volkswagen AG in California on Thursday over losses they say they will incur following revelations that the company fitted some diesel models with software to cheat on USA vehicle emissions tests.

“New appointments will be put before the supervisory board’s meeting this coming Friday”, it said Wednesday, adding that besides changes in the top job, it was expecting other personnel shifts.

Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that Volkswagen has used software that can lower harmful emissions such as nitrogen oxide (NOx), which are strictly regulated, when a vehicle is being tested.

“We don’t yet have figures for how many of these 11 million cars that are apparently affected are in Europe”, he said.

The German group has set aside nearly £5bn (€6.5bn) euros to pay for the crisis, but it’s expected to cost far more.

A “defeat device” in the vehicles made it so that they would pass emissions tests.

In a potential setback to the company’s attempts to move on, German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt suggested tests had also been rigged in Europe.

The UK Government is to re-test cars to compare their lab results with real-world driving emissions following the Volkswagen scandal.

“We are going to clarify the background unsparingly, and everything is being put on the table as quickly, thoroughly and transparently as possible”, the Guardian quoted Winterkorn as saying.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, “This is about showing complete transparency, clearing up the entire case”.

US regulators could impose fines worth billions of dollars, and prosecutors on both sides of the Atlantic are considering launching criminal investigations. Germany’s transport ministry announced Thursday that it would be conducting “spot checks” of diesel engine vehicles, according to Bloomberg, in light of the growing controversy that began with Volkswagen.

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”.