Scandal-hit Volkswagen readies to name new CEO

Shares in Volkswagen sped higher today ahead of the appointment of its new chief executive as the embattled carmaker seeks to steer itself out of the wreckage of the scandal over rigged pollution equipment.
VW shares, which have bounced back from unprecedented losses at the start of the week, hit an intraday high of 117 euros in the first few minutes of trading, an increase of 4.3 per cent on the day.
But by late morning, they had fallen back to show a more modest gain of 1.78 per cent, as it quickly became clear that the carmaker's woes were far from over.

India today joined a growing list of countries that have launched investigations over the cheating scandal, while Australia said it was seeking urgent clarification from the beleaguered company on whether cars in the country had also been fitted with the device that fools pollution tests.
France announced sample checks on diesel cars as soon as next week, after the European Union urged its 28 member states to investigate whether vehicles in their countries comply with European pollution rules.
French Environment Minister Segolene Royal told Europe 1 radio that the random checks of 100 diesel cars aimed to "ensure the absence of fraud".

In Britain, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said new checks would be carried out across the automobile industry to ensure that the "unacceptable actions" at Volkswagen were not repeated. He also backed calls for a Europe-wide probe.

Volkswagen was expected to name its new CEO later in the day to replace Martin Winterkorn who quit at the height of the biggest crisis engulfing the group.
Volkswagen's 20-member supervisory board was scheduled to meet at their headquarters in Wolfsburg to designate the new leader.
But according to reports, they have already picked the current chief of VW's luxury sportscar division, Porsche, 62-year-old Matthias Mueller.

If confirmed, Mueller would have the immediate task of tackling the investigations and the growing tangle of legal woes that erupted when the scam went public a week ago with the United States announcing a probe that could lead to fines worth more than USD 18 billion.
Regulators from the EPA and the California Air Resources Board accused Volkswagen of designing software to evade US limits on nitrogen oxide and other pollutants that engaged pollution controls only when cars are undergoing emissions tests.
The scale of VW's deception became clear when the company admitted that 11 million of its diesel cars are equipped with the devices.

The US Justice Department said late Thursday that it was taking the allegations against VW "very seriously" and was working closely with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its own inquiry.
"We take these allegations, and their potential implications for public health and air pollution in the United States, very seriously," a department spokesman said.