Volkswagen AG (ADR): Matthias Mueller Named New CEO After Emission Fiasco

Embattled German automaker Volkswagen on Friday tapped an executive from Porsche as the group’s new chief – and pledged a major managerial shakeup as it tries to navigate the backlash over its attempt to get around us emissions regulations. He is head of Porsche, which is part of the Volkswagen group of companies.

German transport minister Alexander Dobrindt said he had been told that 1.6 and 2.0 litre diesel engines are the ones “affected by the manipulations that are being talked about”.

It (Other OTC: ITGL – news) comes as the UK Government begins its own investigation into the use of rigged data, which could see all diesel cars in Britain re-tested.

His resignation was formally announced at a press conference at VW headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany. Berthold Huber, Interim Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG, suggested that Müller “knows the Group and its brands well and can immediately engage in his new task with full energy”.

On Tuesday, Volkswagen said 11 million of its vehicles worldwide contained the so-called “defeat device” that allowed the cars to beat the testers.

“For this reason, we will also carry on working intensively to find out exactly, together with VW, in detail which vehicles are affected so that we can further inform the public”, Dobrindt added.

He replaces Martin Winterkorn, who resigned Wednesday and took responsibility for the fraud but said he was not personally involved.

The wider vehicle market has been rocked, with manufacturers fearing a drop in sales of diesel cars and tighter regulations, while customers and motor dealers are furious that Volkswagen has yet to say whether it will have to recall any cars.

The Environmental Protection Agency last week announced that VW installed software to manipulate emissions levels during official tests on almost 500,000 diesel Audi and Volkswagen vehicles.

Yesterday, shares in BMW fell 5.2% after Germany’s Auto Bild magazine reported road tests by the global Council on Clean Transportation showed the BMW X3 xdrive model exceeding European emissions limits by more than 11 times.