Volkswagen ‘to name Porsche boss as new chief executive’

Standard & Poor’s warned it may cut Volkswagen‘s credit rating over the pollution cheating scandal, as fellow rating agency Fitch did on Wednesday. “Clearly, when you look at his profile, he’s had a very Volkswagen-centric career”, says Galliers, who spent 10 years working for Ford. The top official responsible for the European single market, Elzbieta Bienkowska, said: “We need full disclosure and robust pollutant emissions tests in place”.

“He is a good choice even though he may be seen as a transitionary CEO until another internal candidate such as VW brand CEO Diess has earned their stripes”, said Arndt Ellinghorst, an analyst at Evercore ISI investment banking advisory firm.

Mueller, a company veteran for four decades, enjoys the support of the family that controls VW as well as the automaker’s influential labor leaders, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.

Volkswagen is expected to name Matthias Mueller, the head of its Porsche division, as chief executive on Friday and purge other managers to show it is acting decisively to end a crisis over its rigging of USA diesel emission tests.

The decisions come after the previous CEO, Martin Winterkorn, quit the job this week over the scandal, which has damaged the company’s reputation and threatens its business. His predecessor, Winterkorn, resigned on Wednesday, taking responsibility for the vehicle emissions scandal in the US but saying he wasn’t aware of any wrongdoing on his part.

So far, no other carmaker has been found to have used the devices.

Royal said the tests would involve a random sample of about 100 cars.

The cars met environmental regulations when tested on a dynamometer – a kind of treadmill for vehicles – in a laboratory.

Transport authorities in several countries – including the United Kingdom and Germany – have announced their own investigations.

VW has admitted that 11 million vehicles worldwide were fitted with sophisticated software which conned testers in the U.S. into believing their vehicles met environmental standards.

The Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt told the German parliament: “There’s also discussion now about 1.2-litre cars being affected”. She said the initial steps include determining how many Oregonians are affected. He didn’t give details.

The company is facing a cascade of government investigations, consumer lawsuits and a plummeting stock price, not to mention skepticism over the future of diesel cars. The magazine said it had never meant to accuse BMW of manipulating emission levels. He was put in charge of all vehicle projects for Volkswagen in 2003. Delrio, citing a “problem of health, trust”, said the truth must be established. For using secret software on its TDI models to trick emissions equipment, Volkswagen AG faces as much as $18 billion in fines in the United States alone. The German carmaker has refused to comment on the letter.

Another top Volkswagen shareholder said it would have been better for Winterkorn to sort out the crisis before handing over to a successor, pointing to how oil company managed its recovery from the 2010 oil spill. The report did not allege any cheating by BMW. “The new CEO’s priority would be to renew Volkswagen’s leadership, restructure costs and create a “performance-driven company” where management was more accountable”, he added.