VW names Porsche’s Mueller its new CEO

Volkswagen named company veteran Matthias Mueller as its chief executive on Friday as the German carmaker struggles to come to grips with a crisis over rigged diesel emission tests that its chairman called “a moral and political disaster.”

After a marathon board meeting at its headquarters in Wolfsburg, the world’s biggest automaker said Mueller, the 62yearold head of its Porsche sports car division, would replace Martin Winterkorn, who resigned as CEO on Wednesday.

As Mueller took the helm, however, Germany’s transport minister announced the carmaker had manipulated test results for about 2.8 million vehicles in the country, nearly six times as many as it has admitted to falsifying in the United States, pointing to cheating on a bigger scale than previously thought.

Volkswagen, for generations a model of German engineering prowess, is under huge pressure to take decisive action over the biggest businessrelated scandal in its 78year history.

“Under my leadership, Volkswagen will do all it can to develop and implement the strictest compliance and governance standards in the whole industry,” Mueller said in a statement.

The company said it would appoint a US law firm to conduct a full investigation, suspend an unspecified number of staff and adopt a more decentralized structure, with a slimmeddown management board.

Regulators and prosecutors across the world are investigating the scandal, while customers and investors are launching lawsuits.

The wider car market has been rocked too, with manufacturers fearing a drop in sales of diesel cars and tougher testing.

Volkswagen American Depository Receipts closed down 5.5 percent, at $25.68.