Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn resigns amid emissions scandal
Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn announced his resignation on Wednesday, following a tumultuous week for the company. On September 18th, the Environmental Protection Agency ordered Volkswagen to recall 500,000 of its diesel passenger cars because they included software that hid the vehicles' true emissions output from regulators. "I am stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen Group," Winterkorn said in a statement obtained by CNBC. Winterkorn denied any wrongdoing on his own part, but he accepted "responsibility for the irregularities that have been found in diesel engines."
The EPA found that Volkswagen and Audi models sold from 2009 onward featured a "defeat device," which recognized when the car was in emissions testing and switched on full emissions control. When the car returned to the road, the control turned off. Volkswagen admitted to using defeat devices and expects the recall to cost the company $7.3 billion.
[Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images]
