Volkswagen names Porsche chief Matthias Mueller as VW's new CEO

BERLIN — Volkswagen AG has chosen the head of its Porsche division, Matthias Mueller, to succeed Martin Winterkorn as VW’s chief executive officer in the wake of a scandal over emissions involving the brand’s diesel models.

Volkswagen’s supervisory board appointed the 62-year-old Mueller, a longtime company insider, on Friday.

Mueller said he will do everything possible o win back public trust.

“We stand by our responsibility,” Mueller said.

He also said, though, that “carefulness is even more important than speed.”

Mueller said the company would introduce “even tougher compliance rules” and pledged to make VW “an even stronger company.”

Winterkorn resigned Wednesday, taking responsibility for the car emissions scandal in the United States but saying he wasn’t aware of any wrongdoing on his own part.

Volkswagen: also said it’s reorganizing its North America activities and that Michael Horn will remain as US chief.

In other developments involving VW:

• The top U.S. environmental regulator says she wants to make sure Volkswagen’s use of software in its vehicles to evade U.S. auto emissions limits was a “one-off,” and other models will be tested aggressively to determine if other carmakers are trying to defeat pollution tests.

Gina McCarthy, Environmental Protection Agency administrator, responded to a question Friday during a news conference on global climate change at Notre Dame university.

“We’re going to continue to aggressively pursue this issue with VW,” she said.

And EPA would not stop there, she said. The agency would “look at all of the other models aggressively and do the testing we need” to foil any efforts to defeat the emissions system.

Earlier Friday, EPA announced plans for more robust emissions testing following the VW revelations.

• Czech Transport Ministry says it is awaiting information from Volkswagen about how many of the EA 189 diesel engines at the center of the company’s emissions-rigging scandal were used in Skoda Auto vehicles.

Friday’s announcement came after Skoda Auto, a Czech carmaker owned by VW, acknowledged it used the engines in the past.

It didn’t give any further details except that they are not used anymore.

It’s not clear whether those Skoda cars cheated on any emissions tests.

The ministry says it is in touch with counterparts in Germany and Britain, where Skoda cars received the necessary clearance for use in the European markets.

Also:

• The European Union wants quick answers as to how Volkswagen was able to use stealth software in its vehicles so they could pass lab tests on emission pollution standards. The top official responsible for the European single market, Elzbieta Bienkowska, said Friday that “we need full disclosure and robust pollutant emissions tests in place.”

Germany, Italy and France are among the countries known to be investigating, and the commission says their probes would include carmakers beyond VW.

The EU plans to introduce new emissions tests next year involving on-road monitoring. They would complement the lab tests currently used.

• Germany’s transport minister says 2.8 million vehicles in Germany were among those containing software at the center of the emissions-rigging scandal that started in the United States.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has accused VW of installing the so-called “defeat device” used to cheat emissions tests in 482,000 cars sold in the United States.

VW later acknowledged that similar software exists in 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide but hasn’t given details of the models and their whereabouts.

Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt told lawmakers Friday that 2.8 million of the vehicles were in Germany, news agency dpa reported.

• Germany’s transport minister says that light commercial vehicles at Volkswagen appear to be affected by the scandal over software used to cheat U.S. emissions test.