Volkswagen appoints Matthias Muller as new CEO

September 25, 2015 22:25

Volkswagen has appointed Matthias Muller, head of Porsche, as chief executive to lead the troubled carmaker out of the worst scandal in its history.

The supervisory board meeting chose Muller to replace Martin Winterkorn, who resigned in the wake of a widening scandal over diesel emissions after eight years at the helm of the group.

62-year-old Muller, a plain-speaking VW veteran who had emerged as the frontrunner for the post in recent days, is close to the Porsche and Piech families, who together control a majority of VWs voting shares. Born in the former East Germany, he began his career at the groups Audi subsidiary in the 1970s and has headed Porsche since 2010, adding new models and increasing sales.

The scandal exploded when the US Environmental Protection Agency revealed a week ago that VW had rigged its diesel cars to pass emissions tests , an announcement followed by the launch of a US Department of Justice criminal investigation.

The EPA initially said 482,000 vehicles sold to the US since 2008 were affected, a figure now eclipsed by over 2.8m vehicles in Germany.

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

Richa Chadha Shows Off Her Baby Bump

The star cast of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's much talked about Web series, Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, stepped out to celebrate its success over the weekend.

'Olympic gold more important than 90m throw for Neeraj'

Neeraj Chopra will happily settle for a shorter throw in Paris if it proves enough for him to hold on to his Olympic title, his coach said.

All eyes on Rahul as LSG face DC in play-offs battle

There has been a lot of speculations about K L Rahul's future as LSG skipper after his 'public reprimand' by team owner Sanjiv Goenka.

Jaipur schools, Bengaluru hospitals get bomb threat

However, no explosive or nothing suspicious has been found so far in these schools and hospitals.

In Mahua vs Amrita Roy battle, don't forget the CPM

The curious onlookers that greet the candidates are, however, unaware about the importance of history. They are just there to catch a glimpse of 'Rani Ma' Amrita Roy or Mahua Moitra.