VW Names Head of Porsche Unit as New CEO

“Volkswagen needs to terminate the employment of everyone who approved – either explicitly or tacitly – the fraud”, said Cindy Schipani, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

VW said in a statement on its websites that it could not yet say which models and years of construction were affected, adding it would provide further information as soon as possible. “But this process will take time”, VW said.

“There must be people responsible for allowing the manipulation of emission levels to happen”, he told rbb-Inforadio. The report did not allege any cheating by BMW.

Analysts said a new management structure, possibly more decentralized but also with a clearer system of checks, was all the more urgent, with top executives apparently unaware of the emissions test cheating despite a tight control on decisions. “Over time we assembled enough proof and questions that they could no longer provide any reasonable explanation for what was going on”. That leading to complaints of betrayal from vehicle owners.

VW said the scandal involved 11 million vehicles worldwide.

“Customers are unsettled. It won’t just pass us by without problems”.

Labour representatives, occupying half of the 20 board seats, would “only accept a personality with great technical and entrepreneurial expertise as well as great social competence”, VW works council chief Bernd Osterloh said in a letter to employees published on Thursday. This amounts to a staggering 11 million cars across the globe.

“It’s not your grandfather’s diesel”, Krause said in a September 2008 presentation to US regulators, according to a video of the remarks. On Friday, a Texas state court judge overseeing one of those cases entered a temporary order directing Volkswagen to continue its voluntary suspension of sales of certain 2015 and 2016 diesel models within that state until October 12, when another hearing has been scheduled.

The situation is compounded by the fact that the overall automotive market in China, where VW is the dominant manufacturer, has been slowing rapidly in recent months.

“As CEO I accept responsibility for the irregularities that have been found in diesel engines and have therefore requested the Supervisory Board to agree on terminating my function as CEO of the Volkswagen Group”.

Huber said a successor will be discussed at a board meeting Friday that was originally meant to approve extending Winterkorn’s contract through 2018.

The company has yet to announce which cars and construction years are affected, and whether they will have to be refitted.

But Ansgar Klein, head of the German Association of Independent Dealerships, does not expect a lasting impact. “I don’t think prices will fall as a result”, he said.

But the automaker was already putting more and more emphasis on battery technology to meet emissions and mileage targets.

The wrongdoing stands out from other auto scandals for its years of cheating and lying to hide pollution from diesel cars, and for the company’s admission of guilt right after the investigation became public Friday.

“For Poles this is not really that much of an issue”.