Dieselgate: Volkswagen creates new oversight role

Battered Volkswagen has made an unusual plea to premium car-maker Daimler to help it out of its Dieselgate scandal.

It has created a new board of management position for Integrity and Legal Affairs and it has asked Daimler’s Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt to fill it.

The only issue was that Hohmann-Dennhardt, 65, was contracted to Mercedes-Benz’s parent company until March 2017.

But after a personal appeal from Volkswagen Supervisory Board Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch to his counterpart at Daimler, Manfred Bischoff, she will now start to help with the reputational cleanup at Volkswagen on January 1 next year.

“We are delighted that Dr Hohmann-Dennhardt has agreed to take on this responsible task and that we can build on her outstanding competence and experience,” Poetsch said.

“At the same time we would like to thank Daimler for agreeing to our request to the early termination of Dr Hohmann-Dennhardt’s contract.”

A judge on Germany Constitutional Court for 11 years, the tough-talking Hohmann-Dennhardt joined Daimler in 2011 to manage corporate compliance, legal and ethical issues that stemmed from Daimler’s own (far smaller) scandal in America.

Daimler created a board position for her, making her its first female board member by expanding the board from six to seven members.

For its part, Daimler suggested it had released Dr Hohmann-Dennhardt early “in the interests of the good corporate governance of the German automotive industry.”

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