Martin Winterkorn, who has been Volkswagen’s CEO since 2007, stepped down from his position on Wednesday.
As Pope Francis prepared to speak on Capitol Hill in favor of climate change reform, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn announced his untimely resignation. The decision came after last week’s revelations by the Environmental Protection Agency that the German automaker had covertly installed a “defeat device” that switched on during emissions tests, making the vehicles appear low-emission. According to Volkswagen, the technology was installed in 11 million cars going back as far as 2009.
