Martin Winterkohn, Chief Executive Officer of world’s biggest auto maker, Volkswagen has resigned on Wednesday.
This is coming in light of the emission scandal that hit the company in the United States of America earlier this week.
The company was said to have installed a “defeat” software on about 11 million of its diesel-powered vehicles which enabled the vehicle to control emissions when undergoing laboratory tests.
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the so-called defeat device only activates the cars’ most stringent emissions controls during laboratory testing, leaving them disabled during normal operation.
This was hiding the fact that, according to the EPA, these diesel vehicles were emitting nitrogen oxides (NOx) at up to 40 times the standard amount allowed by regulations.
These actions could be considered a violation of the Clean Air Act — an offense that could carry a maximum penalty of $18 billion in the US alone, not including any criminal penalties, The Verge, an auto blog reported.
The Verge reported the German car manufacturer saying yesterday that it would have to set aside €6.5 billion ($7.3 billion) to cover the costs associated with the issue.
The manipulated software affects 482,000 in the US, including the 2009 to 2015 models of the Jetta, Beetle, Golf, and Audi A3, along with the 2014 and 2015 Passat.
Winterkohn’s contract was expected to expire on Friday with him poised to be offered a contract extension before the scandal broke.