Switzerland bans sales of some VW diesel models

“We expressly value his critical and constructive approach”. 23, 2015 he is stepping down.

The exhaust of a Volkswagen Passat Bluemotion is photographed in…

Following his appointment, Mueller said that his top priority was to restore the company’s reputation.

He did not elaborate, and a statement from Volkswagen did not specify who the employees were, at what level or where they worked.

Shares in the German company, which had started to steady after sharp falls earlier this week, were down 4.5% yesterday afternoon, after Bloomberg also reported that executives in Germany controlled aspects of the manipulated U.S. tests.

Authorities said all VW models with diesel engines suspected of being able to trick emissions tests are affected.

TL;DR? The agency is using random spot checks of production cars to make sure that automakers are being honest and to detect any other rule-breaking technology, like VW’s sneaky emissions software that tested clean in a lab but ran dirtier in real-world conditions.

Government regulators on both sides of the Atlantic vowed on Friday to toughen auto emissions tests in the wake of Volkswagen’s admission it cheated on diesel emissions, but some officials and environmentalists doubted the pledges would be easily achieved.

VW, which has seen its stock plummet since the scandal broke, has set aside more than $7 billion to remedy the problems with its cars. Industry analysts say Winterkorn, an engineer by training, would have had to have known about such a far-reaching scheme.

“The next CEO has to be one who is willing to be vulnerable, to come to the table with an enormous sense of authenticity and transparency, someone people will want to follow”, he said. Whoever is responsible could face criminal charges in Germany. Essentially the software made it look like the cars involved were more fuel efficient than they actually were.

“If you take 11 million vehicles over the course of eight years and do the math on their exposure to folks around the world”, he said, “the health effects are tremendous”.

The task facing Mueller, if his selection is confirmed, is enormous.

Winterkorn resigned on Wednesday, taking responsibility for the vehicle emissions scandal in the USA but saying he wasn’t aware of any wrongdoing on his own part.

‘Our aim is to inform our customers as quickly as possible, so that their vehicles comply fully with regulations.

Greenpeace published figures which it claimed show manufacturers of diesel vehicles built to comply with European emissions standards spent up to £13.6 million lobbying EU politicians a year ago. “If we manage to achieve that then the Volkswagen Group with its innovative strength, its strong brands and above all its competent and highly motivated team has the opportunity to emerge from this crisis stronger than before”, added Mueller.