VW confirms Poetsch to chair board amid scandal

However, “In the end, VW will no longer be what it was – a lot will change there structurally”, he acknowledged.

In resigning his position, Winterkorn said he was “stunned” that such widespread misconduct was possible in the Volkswagen Group and accepted responsibility for the “irregularities” found in its diesel engines. In Europe, where VW has been aggressively pricing its vehicles against smaller, struggling companies like Fiat and Peugeot in recent years in hopes of making those companies weaker, sales have been rising. Analysts polled by Bloomberg had forecasted a 6.7 percent decline, on average.

“It is unrealistic, from a point of view of both time and content, that we will be able within only a few weeks to come up with the informed answers that shareholders can justifiably expect”, VW said.

Volkswagen workers assemble engines at a VW plant in Germany.

Volkswagen has said it will refit up to 11 million vehicles containing software capable of cheating emissions tests.

Now they have been forced into an embarrassing U-turn.

The scandal has engulfed VW’s operations in Germany and the USA, triggering a broad management shakeup at headquarters in Wolfsburg and a long string of investigations by agencies worldwide.

Regulatory and legal probes are underway in several countries to find out who knew what and when, and German prosecutors have also launched an investigation against 68-year-old Winterkorn.

The company’s US sales for September showed little indication of an impact, though its problems only emerged late in the month.

VW is wired for sales and job preservation. “This therefore also includes the current Golf, Passat and Touran models”. A prolonged freeze on diesel deliveries would damage VW’s chances of holding USA sales steady from 2014.

Since the revelations on September 18, the VW share has seen almost 40% of its share value go up in smoke, although it was showing signs of stabilisation on Wednesday, when it added 3.38% to €98.42 on the Frankfurt stock exchange shortly before midday.

The estimated 180,000 manipulated VW vehicles that are already in use on Switzerland’s roads will not be affected by the ban, the Federal Roads Office said on Friday evening.

“Volkswagen buyers are loyal”, he said. He was days away from having his contract extended through 2018 when the scandal broke. Just one in four vehicle owners now has a favorable opinion of VW, compared with three out of four prior to the scandal, according to a survey released today by consultancy AutoPacific Inc.

“How Volkswagen handles this issue is critical”, Dan Hall, vice president at AutoPacific, said in a statement.

And in the United States, the Justice Department said it is taking the allegations against the company “very seriously” and announced an investigation. Customer concerns are being directed to VW customer care hotlines and online resources set up in the wake of the crisis, he said.

A dozen managers suspected of helping to develop and install the sophisticated software, known as a defeat device, or who were aware of the fraud have been suspended, the monthly Manager Magazin reported.

“I’ve been through recall situations over the last 30-plus years, and this is probably the toughest one”, he said. “But not as many people are upset” as would be with safety-related recalls. The store has had to offer new deals to get people in the door, including more generous trade-in allowances.