Volkswagen Group appoints Porsche chairman Matthias M¼ller as its CEO

Matthias M¼ller, current chairman of Porsche AG, is appointed as a CEO of Volkswagen AG with immediate effect. This decision was taken at the supervisory board meeting in Wolfsburg on Friday. Matthias M¼ller will continue to be the chairman of Porsche AG until they find someone to take his position.

After the resignation of Martin Winterkorn, former Volkswagen CEO, who took the responsibility for the emissions cheating scandal. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Volkswagen admitted in cheating in the emissions test in US leading recall of 482000 cars including Audi A3, Volkswagen Passat, Jetta, Beetle and Golf only in US. 11 million cars with the same defect are worldwide. This has damaged the reputation of Volkswagen a lot. Other changes are Bernhard Maier (from Porsche will now head Skoda while Christian Klinger from VW has been suspended. Seat's new head is former Audi sales and marketing head Luca de Meo.

Bernd Osterloh, chairman of the Group Works Council, commented: "When it comes to leadership appointments the  Volkswagen Group does not need hasty decisions. We know and value Matthias M¼ller for his determination and decisiveness. He does not work on his own; rather he is a team player. That is what Volkswagen needs now."

More from Auto

Matthias M¼ller said: "My most urgent task is to win back trust for the Volkswagen Group " by leaving no stone unturned and with maximum transparency, as well as drawing the right conclusions from the current situation. Under my leadership, Volkswagen will do everything it can to develop and implement the most stringent compliance and governance standards in our industry. If we manage to achieve that then the Volkswagen Group with its innovative strength, its strong brands and above all its competent and highly motivated team has the opportunity to emerge from this crisis stronger than before."