According to Reuters, the newly elected Chairman of Volkswagen will be having his first board meeting on Wednesday. Hans Deiter Poetsch will barely have time to truly hold the reigns on the German Auto Giant and steer it into the course which will lift it from the abyss it finds itself in now.
After Volkswagen admitted to cheating US Emissions Tests H.D. Poetsch will be appointed to lead the 20-person supervisory board which has been convened at the German headquarters in the city of Wolfsburg.
Poetsch is now in charge of finding the culprits, fully show exactly how many affected vehicles there were, and identify the extent of the problem in Europe.
And he has to do this properly and in record time, as the German Giant has almost wiped out more that a third of its share price and has sent shockwaves to the Globar Car Industry as well as to the German Establishment.
In the meantime active CEO Matthias Mueller has stated “We will overcome the crisis” as he took over from Martin Winterkorn two weeks ago. About 20,000 VW workers showed at the Wolfsburg plant to show support for their company and the new CEO wearing printed T-shirts with the legend: “one Team, one Family.”
As of today, VW has suspended 10 senior managers, including 3 top engineers. However, Reuters states that the internal inquiry has not yet found any specific evidence to accuse the Top Engineers of the manipulation of software to cheat the US Emissions test. US Law Firm Jones Day has been hired as an external advisor to aid in the investigations, and although it has been stated that no conclusions will be able for a few months, a Congressional Oversight Panel of US lawmakers are expecting to receive answers when they question VW’s US Boss Michael Horn on Thursday. It has been said that CEO Mueller and an official from Jones Day will attend the supervisory board meeting with Horn, as a show of support and unity.
Meanwhile, Germany’s KBA watchdog has set a Wednesday deadline to submit a plan to make its cars compliant with emissions laws and among all other news, it appears that the rise of Poetsch and Mueller signify the return to influence of long-time chairman Ferdinand Piech who is a member of the Porsche-Piech clan which owns a controlling stake in VW and who had rabidly criticized Winterkorn’s leadership.
The story keeps evolving!
By Jorge Reano
