The firestorm of cheating allegations leveled against Volkswagen has officially claimed its first casualty, and it’s a doozy. CEO Martin Winterkorn is resigning from his role amid accusations of years of diesel emissions cheating from the German automaker. The EPA alleges that the company installed software that allowed nearly half a million vehicles to avoid being flagged for violating emissions regulations.
In a statement, Winterkorn said “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.”
This definitely represents a huge blow to Volkswagen’s future, though we’re not sure yet how deep the story goes. We’ll be watching closely with the rest of the world to see their next move.
