Volkswagen to pick Porsche chief as next CEO

Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn is resigning amid an emissions-cheating scandal that has rocked the German automaker since it was disclosed late last week.

Taking over the new role, Mr. Mueller said in a statement that he would try everything possible to adopt strict compliance and governance standards industry-wide.

The Volkswagen board is also expected to dismiss high-level engineers and designers, although no further details have been released yet.

Workers in Volkswagen’s home town of Wolfsburg have been left fearing for their futures after the carmaker was plunged into crisis because of rigged US diesel emission tests.

Volkswagen has blamed the emissions scandal at the auto maker on a “small group” of people and suspended staff as it unveiled Matthias Müller as its new chief executive.

“Today we are putting vehicle manufacturers on notice that our testing is going to include additional evaluation and tests created to look for potential defeat devices”, said Christopher Grundler, director of the EPA Office of Transportation & Air Quality.

Mr Winterkorn had said, on Wednesday, he took responsibility for the “irregularities” found by USA inspectors in Volkswagen’s diesel engines, but said he had personally done nothing wrong. On Thursday, he said spot tests were also being conducted on cars made by other brands, German and foreign. Approximately 11 million vehicles from Volkswagen are believed to have the software with 482,000 vehicles in the United States already tipped to be recalled. The company is prepared to spend $7.3 billion cleaning up the mess – and likely paying giant fines to the American regulators who noticed the cheating. When he resigned, Winterkorn denied he knew of any wrongdoing but said the company needed a fresh start.

Mueller, VW’s former head product strategist who joined the group’s top management board in March, is favoured by a majority on VW’s 20-member supervisory board, which will endorse him as new CEO at a meeting on Friday, the source said.