Who was the CEO of Volkswagen during the 2015 emissions scandal?

Martin Winterkorn was Volkswagen Group’s CEO during the 2015 emissions scandal. He had led the group since 2007 and resigned on September 23, 2015, days after U.S. regulators publicly accused Volkswagen of using software to evade diesel-emissions tests.

The scandal, widely called Dieselgate, centered on “defeat device” software in certain Volkswagen and Audi diesel vehicles. The software recognized laboratory testing conditions and temporarily activated stronger emissions controls. During ordinary driving, the vehicles could emit nitrogen oxides far above permitted levels. Volkswagen later acknowledged that about 11 million vehicles worldwide were affected.

Winterkorn apologized and accepted responsibility for the crisis while saying he personally had not known about the manipulation. Matthias Müller, previously head of Porsche, succeeded him as Volkswagen Group CEO on September 25, 2015. Ferdinand Piëch was Volkswagen’s powerful supervisory-board chairman and former CEO, not the group’s chief executive during the scandal; Herbert Diess became CEO later, in 2018.