VW names Porsche chief Mueller as new CEO: supervisory board

VW also faces a battle to restore the confidence of customers and motor dealers who have expressed frustration at a lack of information from the company about how they will be affected by the scandal. It will also have to fix software it has said is in some 11 million cars worldwide, more than the 482,000 identified last week by US authorities.

The head of VW’s employee council, Bernd Osterloh, said that Volkswagen “needs a new beginning” with a “different company culture”. On Tuesday, a French official called for a European investigation into vehicle emissions, after the company admitted to cheating on US emissions tests.

But the worst scandal in the company’s 78-year history showed no sign of abating as Germany’s transport minister said on Thursday it had manipulated tests in Europe as well as the United States.

Volkswagen AG will name Matthias Müller, the current chief executive of the group’s premium auto manufacturer Porsche AG, as its new CEO, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday.

Members of Volkswagen’s supervisory board said Wednesday, shortly after Mr. Winterkorn resigned, that further personnel decisions would be made after a full board meeting on Friday.

The carmaker’s statement was its first admission that diesel cars outside the United States may contain the software that led the Environmental Protection Agency to accuse the company of deliberately evading pollution tests. The crisis wiped about €20 billion off VW’s market value this week, and the company estimates irregularities on diesel-emission readings extend to 11 million vehicles around the world.

Diesel vehicles are more efficient than those powered by regular gas but emit higher levels of nitrogen oxides, or NOx, which can contribute to ozone buildup and respiratory illnesses. The EPA said Friday, however, it will change the way it tests diesel emissions, adding on-road tests to check for “a potential defeat device” similar to the one used by Volkswagen. Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn issued an apology, stating that he was “deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and the public”. The company now looks set to fire executives across its multi-brand group to weed out the source of the manipulations.

South Korea also said it will investigate Volkswagen’s actions.

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

Volkswagen said in a statement on its website it was working to answer these questions as quickly as possible.

At 1515 GMT, the stock was up 0.2 per cent at 111.8 euros following its decline in previous days.