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VW CEO Winterkorn Steps Down Despite Being "Unaware Of Any Wrongdoing"
Despite saying that press reports of the CEO leaving were "utterly ridiculous", he just did...
- *VW CEO WINTERKORN STEPPING DOWN OVER WIDENING DIESEL SCANDAL
- *VW'S WINTERKORN SAYS UNAWARE OF ANY WRONGDOING ON MY PART
- *VOLKSWAGEN BOARD SEES FURTHER PERSONNEL CHANGES IN NEXT DAYS
- *VOLKSWAGEN BOARD SAYS ALL INVOLVED IN CHEAT TO FACE CONSEQUENCE
One can only wonder what his "retirement" package will be.
Full Statement by Prof. Dr. Winterkorn
"I am shocked by the events of the past few days. Above all, I am stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen Group. 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. I am doing this in the interests of the company even though I am not aware of any wrongdoing on my part.
Volkswagen needs a fresh start - also in terms of personnel. I am clearing the way for this fresh start with my resignation.
I have always been driven by my desire to serve this company, especially our customers and employees. Volkswagen has been, is and will always be my life.
The process of clarification and transparency must continue. This is the only way to win back trust. I am convinced that the Volkswagen Group and its team will overcome this grave crisis."
As a reminder, here is why Volkswagen, Germany's biggest company and the largest automaker, is important:
- German automobile manufacturers produced almost 13 million vehicles in 2013 – equivalent to more than 17 percent of total global production. Twenty-one of the world’s 100 top automotive suppliers are German companies.
- The automotive industry is the largest industry sector in Germany. In 2014, the auto sector listed a turnover of EUR 384 billion, around 20 percent of total German industry revenue. Source: VDA 2015
- The auto industry is the largest industrial sector in Germany, contributing about 2.7% to gross domestic product.
- Some 20% of Germany's exports are made up of vehicles and parts.
- Germany is Europe’s number one automotive market; accounting for over 30 percent of all passenger cars manufactured (5.6 million) and almost 20 percent of all new car registrations (3.04 million). Source: ACEA 2015
- Germany is home to 43 automobile assembly and engine production plants with a capacity of over one third of total automobile production in Europe. Source: ACEA 2015
- One in every five cars worldwide carries a German brand. Source: VDA 2015
- In 2014, automotive industry R&D expenditure reached EUR 17.6 billion, equivalent to one third of Germany’s total R&D expenditure. Source: VDA 2015
- 21 of the world’s top 100 automotive suppliers are German companies. Source: PWC 2013
- Around 77 percent of cars produced in Germany in 2014 were ultimately destined for international markets – a new record. Source: VDA 2015
- R&D personnel within the German automobile industry reached a level of just over 93,000 in 2014. Around 775,000 are employed in the industry as a whole. Source: VDA 2015
- The Volkswagen group accounts for roughly one in 10 vehicles sold globally.
- Most German auto sales came from the Volkswagen group, which reported just over 202 billion euros in revenue in 2014.
- Roughly 70% of Volkswagen vehicles are sold outside German borders.
- Volkswagen employs nearly 600,000 people around the world, and more than a third of the 775,000 people who work in the auto industry in Germany.
Meanwhile, back in the best democracy money can buy, where failure is rewarded with bailouts and where criminal death cover-ups cost less than $1 billion to settle, Mary Barra is still running GM.
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Prison Bitchez!
Honorable seppaku, but he should of taken the people who did this out first.....
Mock and German?
http://fortune.com/2015/09/21/volkswagen-emissions-testing-golf/
I have a Passat Diesel... and I don't fucking care!
Just try to sell it.... or drive it in California.
The good news is that you can join class action lawsuits and sue for your entire purchase price, due to fraud.
get me in on some of that class action yo!
and I live in the People's Republic of Maryland. I'd take a long walk off a short pier before I ever step foot in Cali
Can I get in on a class action as well if I buy a used one now and claim I was unaware of any issue?
(btw - does anyone know how to get a temp Cali drivers license or car registration without actually living there?)
"(btw - does anyone know how to get a temp Cali drivers license or car registration without actually living there?)"
You think they check??? It's California. Put your address down as 1 Hollywood Blvd.
Ha,Ha, Maryland, aka California east
LOL! I know, all these greenies were on NPR last night wringing their hands about the emissions.
If I had one and it was getting 45 MPG or more and reliable I wouldn't care either!
It's not as if the diesel pick ups and semi's aren't ten times worse.
And the gasoline cars and trucks just as bad with less MPG.
DUH!
Imagine the lawsuits for emotional distress. Here they are driving around thinking they are saving the world yet they are actually causing 40x more pollution. Wait till they find out that tofu is really Japanese for whale and dolphin meat.
That's all you hear 40 X, but in real terms and comparatively measured a minuscule real amount. No matter an easy sacrifice to the environmental alter.
Timing on this certainly intriguing. So when does DB implode?
I've been wondering about that since they have to be deep in this turd bath......
TBTF... sorry guys,,,
;-D
TBTF=Turd Bath Total Fail
I've heard it's good for your skin, so that's not a total fail...
;-D
F the EU! All out war on white Europeans by the Zio State Dept, ZWO and ZATO. Do not talk to Putin, do any deals, take 50 million muslims like America does.
Someone mentioned the entire ECU units are made by Bosch. Bosch needs to step up to the plate - fast.
This is a hit on VW and Germany.
who woulda thought Germans could cheat?
Unaware of any wrongdoing?
Give the psychopathic son of a bitch a Nobel Prize like the droner-in-chief
I'm shocked and awed!
Boy the U.S .gov sure has a hard on for Germany right now. Get bak un ze line bitchez und du vat ve say!
They are never aware of any wrong doing on their part because that is their job these days, not to be aware.
That is the farce of corporate governance.
absolutely correct... being aware imparts liability...
You got it William of Banzai, plausible deniability...
;-D
So true. My CEO has no idea I have been ripping him off for years.
ROFL: It's too bad you're Not Goldman Sachs,,,
;-D
The above was the last mail order, DIY assembled car kit my father ever purchased.
Awesome photo.
The first and only engine rebuild of my life was for my VW van back in the late 70s.
I can clearly see pieces in that photo that I smashed knuckles trying to remove.
Thanks for sharing!
Terrible for a guy who was singing at the recent car show : we are #1 and we never had it so good!
Maybe, there is a message for Jamie Dimon there...
dude took a shot to try & get 1-last payday from the board
im sure they said NEIN, NEIN, NEIN!!!
cheat an emission test to dodge a test for a myth such as climate change, lose ur job
run the engineering department for a company whose cars kill 174 people, get promoted to CEO, an 8-figure pay package, and sit with the first lady as the president addresses the congress
and some wonder why here in the U.S. i say we are living in upside-down, inside-out world.
Actually.... In terms of diesel engines I am all for these emission controls.
Have you ever visited the 3rd word where diesel is widely used and there are no such controls?
Agreed.
The "no rules for the environment, pig" brand of libertarianism is best left in your college dorm.
It's also never going to get much by way of votes.
Well if all these rules for the children werent co-opted by corporate interests to create monopolies we could do something sane for a change. ICE engines suck from an enviromental perspective. Trying to start stop combustion 18000 times a minute (3000 rpm 6 cyl.) and be clean at the same time is fucking stupid. I can kick the shit out of any ICE diesel/gas setup with hundred year old tech. Ever heard of a Stanley steamer?
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/148416-are-steam-cars-poised-for-an-epic-comeback
They arent coming back. Anything simple and robust will be fought by the auto industry. Even though it can reduce pollution by huge amounts. Steam is also 3x more efficient than ICE. 70 mpg in your old longbed pickup on gas. Easy peasy convert to steam power.
https://youtu.be/LJq2Hc_mXFI
Why they wont come back.
1. They last forever.
2. They are simple. (small companies could compete)
3. They eliminate the complexity pushing profits down. Turbine = 1 moving part in engine. Not hundreds.
4. They work with anything that burns. Wood propane nat gas bankers whatever.
5. They burn so much cleaner. (Less costly and simpler emission controls)
You think GM wants to make cars that last a long time and cost half as much? Hell no they dont and thanks to all these rules they dont have too.
Look up from your chained feet. Regulations dont solve pollution problems. They guarantee them.
https://youtu.be/z6n1lEHCFM0 Note whose logo is on the uniforms.
Uh, not every cylinder is in combustion stroke for every rev. Try not to misinform.
Yes, I have and will never forget standing at an intersection in Tiawan in the early '90's when the red light changed to green. Each road was about 5 or 6 lanes wide, and when the vehicles started to move, this huge cloud of dirty gray exhaust rose above the traffic and just lingered there until the light changed again.
That was just one of the very early signals I got that told me I did not want to live in that part of the world.
ROFL.
I also lived in Taipei in the late 90s right at the intersection of Nanjing E. Rd and Fushing N. Rd.
Yes, the diesel smog was extreme.
It made me appreciate the scouring action of typhoons.
Yes, I know the intersection. A fitting area for an expat. I really did enjoy Taipei. Too bad most of my business went to the mainland and HK. Not that there is anything wrong with HK. I could be happy livng there, and have several friends that do.
That sounds like poor city design. All the big factories should have a rail line. Public transport to get around. Housing close to work and shopping. Disney made EPCOT to prove this idea. He died before the Experimental Prototype City Of Tomorrow was finished.
This wasn't some rogue code monkey.
A lot of Krauts were involved in this irregularity conspiracy.
When Americans get the fix at their dealers and their cars then run like shit, this is going to be the mother of all class actions.
If we fire CEOs everytime a mistake is made, they will always be running scared and never take any risks at all. At this point its hard to get the best people to take these jobs because of the inevitable firing for some stupid thing one over zealous underling did. When mistakes are made you want the people who are there to fix them. They are responsible and shloud be held accountable instead of pulling the golden rip-cord. Besides that's how these guys will get good at their jobs: fixing problems. You bring in a new knucklehead, and it takes 2 years for him/her to figure out the basics. Is this just a way of rendering private enterprise totally ineffective so government can take it over?
Did the reason why CEOs (earn) 500x what the average employee makes ever occur to you?
So you want to see Jarred making new Subway commercials do you?
Sure, as long as they pay to work and then get rewarded with some jail time.
There is a long line of people who would do the useless overpaid job of CEO. Just like there is for getting a job as a cop. That's why they set a barrier for entry and claim no one is qualified.
I think seppuku is more in order for the CEO. Even though "HE" didn't do anything wrong his leadership proved insuffient at developing a culture of honestyand environmental stewardship. The knife can be reused by a half dozen GM officials.
There is also the possibility that the Americans will milk this for all they can and give the Germans an ultimatum to either get on board totally against Putin or else and by the way, the Germans will probably forget to ask for their gold ever again. If they don't agree then they will be fned out of existence.
A definite possibility.
How many times have the German people been screwed over like this by banksters and banksters wars? Endless times. They need to step up. get rid of Merkel. Send the invading hordes home. Sorry - we cannot afford them now.
He knew or should have known.
Jail time!
Oh, wait a sec; he's a Big Shot.
Sorry about that. Move along. Take your Golden Parachute and move to the next rip off.
Amercan auto industry and OIL COMPANIES have been at war with foreign diesel's regardless of emissions. Most cars and small trucks are diesels outside the US. Just the opposite in the states. The don't want vehicles to get great fuel mileage.
Germany might want to re-think 40,000 "refugees" from the Middle East swamping social services and no jobs for them.
Unless somewhow sublimating their culture with teaming masses of Muslims is a plan of some sort.
What I can't imagine, but I wouldn't call it compassion or patriotism.
40,000? try 4 million. The Germans need to lynch Merkel now.
"I am unaware of any wrongdoing" is in the same province as the courtroom farce, "I do not recall that incident".
Note to self: Insert "Selective amnesia" and "Environmental agnosia" into my Linkedin profile for headhunters looking for bluechip CEOs.
"One can only wonder what his "retirement" package will be."
Well one thing's for sure....whatever the reported amount, the actual amount will be many times higher.
1937 Hitler inagurated VW. His tradition continues. Would have received highest award from Third Reich for Global poisoning.
Jesus god, man - switch to decaf already.
Dr. Porsche was actually a sneaky bastard. Hitler tapped him to make a super tank and Porsches (electric) design caught fire at the working review. Several times....This resulted in Hitler using another company/design. Later when crazy Hitler wanted to build a tank so big and (economically) stupid he had trouble getting somebody to do it. Sooooo back to Dr. Porsche he went. Dr. Porsche did it too. It was huge and it hauled ass pretty good. Drove like a dream they say.... Unfortunately it was so big it couldnt cross any bridges and the war was all but over anyway.
For those who dont know Dr. Porsche was an electical genius. He built his first car (electric) around the age of 22 in like 1898. It was entered in a major competion and cleaned house on the first try. The next closest car was 18 minutes behind. Years later his electic/diesel tanks catch fire. Sure they did!
The Winterkorn - I believe is an evil creature from Bavarian folklore.
Like young boys must not engage in onanism lest the Winterkorn come and freeze off their willy.
The Winterkorn would chase unchaste women to and fro shouting "unclean! unclean!"
Maybe he is in pain-Winkertorn.
Part of a covert operation, like the installation of NSA keys in Mikrosoft's operating systems.
Russian sanctions, NSA spying, more nukes, forced Muslim invasion, now this. How much long does Germany remain America's battered hausfrau.
This is New World Order law; government against the people.
That a company can be permanently crippled or an entire people’s well-being destroyed on the basis of an emissions “scandal” is reprehensible.
It reminds me of John D. MacDonald’s concern over narcotics laws in his 1967 Travis McGee mystery, Dress Her in Indigo. “It is too tough. It slams too many doors. It effectively destroys the kid’s life. It is too harsh a penalty for a little faddist experimentation.”
He wrote:
“The tragic flaw in the narcotics laws [is] that possession of marijuana is a felony. Regardless of whether it is as harmless as some believe, or as evil and vicious as other believe, savage and uncompromising law is bad law… imposing a penalty barbaric and cruel…
“Let’s say a kid in Florida, a college kid eighteen years old, is picked up with a couple of joints on him. He is convicted of possession, which is an automatic felony, and given a suspended sentence. What has he lost? The judge who imposes sentence knows the kid has lost the right to vote, the right to own a gun, the right to run for public office. He can never become a doctor, a dentist, C.P.A., engineer, lawyer, architect, realtor, osteopath, physical therapist, private detective pharmacist, school teacher, barber, funeral director, masseur, or stock broker. He can never get any job where he as to be bonded or licensed. He can’t work for the city, county, or federal governments. He can’t get into West Point, Annapolis, or the Air Force Academy. He can enlist in the military, but will be denied his choice of service, and probably be assigned to a labor battalion.”
It is better to risk a small present evil than to pursue a present good that will be followed by a great evil to come (Bastiat paraphrased).
Not the only cockroach. Standby.
Could this be a warning shot across Germany's bow to not rock the boat by re-considering sanctions against Russia?
Not even a warning shot across the bow but verily a firm kick in the guts.
He should erase it. With a cloth or something.
Bullshit "environmental" standards. Not even the dipshit neo Hippy Hipsters believe that crap. It's all about trying to be exactly the same as everyone else in your target peer group.
This little monkey tendency has been leveraged to the hilt by the control freaks who think they own everything.
VW don't make Engine Management Systems. They buy them in from Bosch. Why is no-one asking Bosch some serious questions? Why is the Bosch CEO not on that stage shoulder to shoulder with the VW CEO? Could it be that Bosch have done that for all their customers? Could it be that they are up against the same physics as everyone else on the planet and therefore if we look close enough we will find that all ECU manufacturers do this? Enquiring minds would like to know.
Bosch had issued statement that they make EMS as per customer's specifications. (LOL). Will have to see if Bosch comes with clarification later regarding other specifications.
Has the Fed returned Germanys +$300 Billion in gold? Has the Fed allowed Germany to physically inspect and audit the gold they are waiting for the Fed to return? Must take a while to wrap those bars of tungston in Bubble Wrap. If I remember correctly, when they wanted to visit their gold in 2012 the vault 86 feet underground in NY convieniently flooded.
Rummor has it a few years back China called gold back form England. When they assayed it they discovered it was gold plated tungston. When China inquired with a WTF, England said the gold came from the NY Fed vault or Fort Hardknox.
Scammer 101 - Call your accusors out before they call you out.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-02-05/germany-s-gold-repatri...