Dieselgate: Germany probes Winterkorn
Ex-Volkswagen CEO Winterkorn faces fraud investigationGermany has turned on its biggest carmaker over the Dieselgate crisis, giving it a week to come up with a fix to a problem eight years in the making.
On Sunday, Volkswagen received a letter from Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority, signed by Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt, demanding that it deliver a binding plan and schedule to fix the 11 million “cheat code” diesel cars by October 7.
If Volkswagen hasn’t come up with a viable solution by then, Dobrindt said, the Government would have no choice but to ban the 2.8 million affected cars in Germany from driving on its roads.
Switzerland has already banned affected cars from being sold, new or used, and other countries continue to investigate their options.
Volkswagen will present its plan within days to repair the affected cars, a spokesman said overnight. It says it will notify customers and regulatory authorities around the world in writing.
That’s not the only issue for Volkswagen, though, with German prosecutors opening up a criminal investigation of former Volkswagen Group CEO Dr Martin Winterkorn over his role in what it is calling a “fraud scandal” that has shattered public confidence in the world’s biggest carmaker.
The terms of reference of the investigation of the Braunschweig prosecutor will be to get to the bottom of where the ultimate responsibility lay for the scandal, which saw Volkswagen sneak around NOx emissions regulations by switching on its full exhaust-cleaning system only when it was tested in a laboratory.
Volkswagen itself filed a criminal complaint with the same prosecutor last week and insists it will provide the public investigator with every assistance in reaching the heart of the problem.
Dr Winterkorn was last week replaced by Volkswagen Group lifer and ex-Porsche head, Matthias Müller.
Dieselgate related reading
ACCC issues statement on VW emissions saga
Müller locked in as Volkswagen CEO
BMW forced to deny emissions rigging
Volkswagen boss Winterkorn to go as crisis spreads
Dieselgate worsens, 11m vehicles could be affected
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