Winterkorn.

mm12345, Sep 25, 4:54pm
$51 million pension plan, plus he might get another $60 million in severance.
Oh - the pain he must be feeling.
skull, Sep 25, 5:20pm
Shouldn't get a bean in severance. They need to weed out those responsible as well, it certainly isn't him, he's just taking the hit to do what he can to protect the company.
butterfly05, Sep 25, 5:21pm
I dont buy that. If he had any credibility he'd be the one weeding out all these supposed naughty boys at VW that were underneath him.
mm12345, Sep 25, 5:28pm
I'd condemn him almost solely on the basis that he is man of considerable intellectual ability. FFS - he has a PhD in physics from the Max Planckt Institute.
It's completely inconceivable to me that a man with his talent, even if not directly involved and delegating development entirely to a team under his command, would not have looked at the remarkable performance achieved with VAG engines - but not have the curiosity to ask "this is fantastic - how did we do this?".
seadubya, Sep 25, 6:13pm
bwg11, Sep 25, 6:20pm
I can't believe such "defeat device" code could be embedded in ECU code without the approval from "above". This is not the work of a rogue programmer, but a deliberate orchestrated attempt to cheat EPA standards.
skin1235, Sep 25, 8:04pm
so he runs out with 50m and another 60 as a possible kickback yet to come

naturally none of that will be found when the courts drop a big one on VW, he won't part with a cent, it will all be tied up in trusts for his wife and kids etc, or plain disappeared
VW will pay whatever it comes down as, bu they will appeal it a few times first, their new ceo won't have any responsibility to answer - it all happened before his time
VW diesel will probably disappear too, pity in some ways, they certainly had some technique in that area, the future VW petrol will cost more, and will probably be a rebranded other manufacturers product ( if the new buyers bother to keep the badge at all)
mm12345, Sep 25, 8:11pm
Winterkorn was renowned as a "micro manager" - someone always involved with all the fine detail.
Inconceivable that he wasn't right at the heart of it.
Falling on his sword isn't close to the end of it I hope.
mm12345, Sep 25, 9:27pm
Slowly, slowly it's coming out.
From German Transport Minister Dobrindt, the cars were sold in Europe, it looks like it 1.6 TDI as well as 2.0 TDI, Audi A1/2/3/6 models may be affected.
It was 11 Million vehicles, but now he's saying the number is "unknown".
UK law firms report being inundated with thousands of calls from very unhappy customers, class action is now possible in the UK, and they're talking billions of pounds.
ema1, Sep 25, 10:26pm
Lots of ducking and diving and smoke screens.
Smoke eventually clears and all the lies & deceit will be laid bare, the sooner the better and the more thorough the investigations get the better, it's getting a lot of heavy players involved.
Sounds like the gnomes & elves at VAG are in for a fair old roasting, there's going to be lots of blood on the floor.
countrypete, Sep 26, 4:13am
The way that large companies work, he may well not have known. In meetings with senior execs of big companies, firstly, you don't say anything that may cause any future embarrassment or be directly illegal or immoral. Such things may well be implied. Secondly, subtlety is a rule - these people are not silly and don't need things spelt out - as much can be conveyed by what is left unsaid.

In all likelihood management met to discuss problems with compliance, and staff were instructed along the lines of "just find a way to meet the standards". They would not need (or even want) to know how that would be achieved; the only thing that would matter would be the result. That is most certainly not exclusive to VW.
ema1, May 5, 9:05pm
Deny all knowledge would be more likely, VAG CEO Winterkorn was a very astute chap and very clued up, most CEO's as such always are or they won't attain CEO status positions.
Like mm12345 states he had a very "micro detail management hands on style" and no doub't he will have the knowledge right up to the hilt and also no doub't condoned it for profit making and world production/position sales etc status purposes at all costs, the Germans are like that.
Got to be "Top Dogs" no matter what, nothing wrong with that . it's the tactics that are used which are quite another matter especially once they are found out and very recently ADMITTED to which is deemed blatantly unlawful!