Winterkorn to Resign as CEO of Porsche Holding Company Amid
Volkswagen Probe.
Volkswagen AG ’s former chief executive, Martin Winterkorn, is stepping down as head of Porsche Automobil Holding SE, the holding company owned by the Porsche and Piech families that control a majority of the German auto group’s voting stock said Saturday.
The move comes less than a month after Mr. Winterkorn quit as CEO of Volkswagen, after the company admitted it manipulated emissions tests of some diesel-powered cars and light trucks in the U.S. and Europe. The company is under investigation on suspicion of fraud on both sides of the Atlantic and is preparing to launch a massive recall of up to 11 million vehicles.
The holding company, belonging to the Porsche and Pietch families, owns around 52% of Volkswagen’s voting stock and is the car maker’s largest shareholder. Porsche SE has no direct management control over Volkswagen.
Hans Dieter Pötsch, Porsche SE’s finance chief and the chairman of Volkswagen’s supervisory board, will succeed Mr. Winterkorn as CEO on Nov. 1.
Volkswagen’s admission of cheating on emissions tests has put the company under intense pressure and triggered wider questions about the auto industry, which is central to Germany’s economy.
German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks has called for tougher testing and regulations to ensure that diesel vehicles run clean.
Volkswagen last week suspended a fourth senior engineer, a person familiar with the situation said on Thursday, as the company’s new chief executive, Matthias Müller, called for a more decentralized business organization.
Porsche Automobile Holding was created in 2007 when car maker Porsche AG bought Volkswagen shares in a bid to take over the larger car maker. A bitter battle ensued between cousins Wolfgang Porsche and former Volkswagen Chairman Ferdinand Piech, the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche who invented the original Volkswagen, for control. In the end, Volkswagen acquired Porsche and by 2012 Porsche SE became Volkswagen’s anchor shareholder
VW
scandal: German motoring giant ordered to recall 8.5 million cars
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech
Volkswagen is to recall 8.5 million cars in Europe as a result of the diesel emissions scandal. The move followed Germany’s rejection of a VW proposal to let affected owners bring their cars in voluntarily.
News of the mandatory recall, the biggest in Europe, came as Italian police announced they had carried out raids on VW offices. It was also revealed that one of the car firm’s top engineers had been suspended as part of the internal investigation.
The recall followed the rejection of VW’s offer to fix 2.4 million cars sold to customers in Germany by the national motoring watchdog, the Federal Motor Transport Authority.
The watchdog said VW must share technical details of its engine emission fix with authorities by mid-November, and the recall will begin in January, according to a Bloomberg report.
Volkswagen’s Sales Hold Up in Immediate Aftermath of Emissions Scandal
http://www.wsj.com/articles/volkswagens-sales-hold-up-in-immediate-aftermath-of-emissions-scandal-1444995714
European auto-industry data for September showed no immediate impact on Volkswagen AG’s sales after the eruption of the emissions scandal that forced the German company last month to lower earnings estimates, take a $7.4 billion charge and change its chief executive.
New-car registrations for September, released Friday, indicate that Volkswagen continued to benefit from a broad recovery in Europe’s car market despite the midmonth revelation that the company had cheated on auto-emissions testing.
For the full month, Volkswagen’s new passenger-car registrations, a proxy for sales, rose 8.4% in the European Union, slightly below the 9.8% advance for the market as a whole, according to data by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, or ACEA.
Volkswagen’s monthly increase outpaced its January-to-September performance and was in line with the company’s percentage gain for all of 2014, when it sold about 3.6 million vehicles in Europe.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/business/former-volkswagen-chief-to-resign-as-head-of-holding-company.html
Mr. Winterkorn, 68, has denied knowing about the illegal software, but many critics have said his autocratic management style and his determination to make Volkswagen the world’s largest automaker may have contributed to the crisis. His resignation will take effect at the end of October, Porsche SE said. The company did not explain why Mr. Winterkorn had not stepped down sooner.
Porsche SE holds shares in Volkswagen owned by descendants of Ferdinand Porsche, who designed the Volkswagen Beetle. Hans Dieter Pötsch will replace Mr. Winterkorn as chief executive of the holding company, Porsche SE said. Last month, Matthias Müller, who ran the Volkswagen division that makes Porsche sports cars, replaced Mr. Winterkorn as chief of Volkswagen.
After VW scandal, new emissions tests may drive up diesel prices
http://www.autoblog.com/2015/10/17/vw-scandal-new-emissions-tests-drive-up-diesel-prices/
However much Volkswagen has to aside to address the flak from the company's ongoing diesel-emissions scandal, it could still be less expensive than the cost of making diesels realistically adhere to stricter emissions-testing mandates. New rules are likely to be put into place as a result of the revelations that as many as 11 million VW diesel vehicles were programmed to game the emissions-testing system by triggering artificially low emissions levels. There's a potential problem, though, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA).
Governments around the world are calling for more intense tests that would better simulate real-world driving conditions. Some of the mandates suggested by the European Union could make the process a costly one, however. And that would boost diesel-vehicle production costs to the point that the lower refueling costs via cheaper fuel and better fuel economy won't be able to justify the higher purchase price.
After VW scandal, new emissions tests may drive up diesel prices
http://www.autoblog.com/2015/10/17/vw-scandal-new-emissions-tests-drive-up-diesel-prices/
However much Volkswagen has to aside to address the flak from the company's ongoing diesel-emissions scandal, it could still be less expensive than the cost of making diesels realistically adhere to stricter emissions-testing mandates. New rules are likely to be put into place as a result of the revelations that as many as 11 million VW diesel vehicles were programmed to game the emissions-testing system by triggering artificially low emissions levels. There's a potential problem, though, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA).
Governments around the world are calling for more intense tests that would better simulate real-world driving conditions. Some of the mandates suggested by the European Union could make the process a costly one, however. And that would boost diesel-vehicle production costs to the point that the lower refueling costs via cheaper fuel and better fuel economy won't be able to justify the higher purchase price.
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