Porsche boss Matthias Müller is said to be in line for the position of CEO of VW Group, according to CNBC. The automaker’s former CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned this week after the company admitted to using a special device in millions of diesel passenger cars in order to dodge U.S. emissions laws.
The VW Board will hold a meeting today at its headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, to discuss Müller’s potential appointment to CEO. A source close to the matter told CNBC that Müller has “strong support,” on the VW board and that he is “thought highly of by executives and the labor unions as well.”
If Müller is tapped for the job, he will have a lot on his plate. In addition to rigging emissions tests in the U.S., it emerged Thursday VW Group may have also applied a similar defeat device to certain diesel vehicles in Europe in order to skirt European emissions tests, too. The automaker’s shares also tumbled 20 percent on Monday and remained low throughout the week.
In addition to Winterkorn, other VW executives are expected to leave the company amid the emissions scandal and the subsequent backlash. Head of the automaker’s U..S operations, Michael Horn, is expected to leave or be let go, along with the heads of Audi and Porsche research and development Ulrich Hackenberg and Wolfgang Hatz.
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