Business live: Volkswagen boss resigns

Summary

Outgoing VW boss Winterkorn says "fresh start" needed
Diageo warns on £150m currency hit
'Happy Birthday' ruled out of copyright
US drug company to cut 5,000% price rise after backlash
George Osborne sets UK-China trade target

Live Reporting

Ian Pollock

Volkswagen calls in state prosecutor over 'criminal irregularities'published at 16:56
Part of the executive committee's statement.
Quote Message
The executive committee have decided that the company will voluntarily submit a complaint to the state prosecutors’ office in Brunswick. In the view of the executive committee criminal proceedings may be relevant due to the irregularities. The investigations of the state prosecutor will be supported in all form from the side of Volkswagen.
Image source, EPA
VW saga: A reader asks...published at 16:49
What's the chance of a reasonable price for trading my VW in this weekend?
Darren Woods.
Which raises the very interesting point: how are second-hand values of VW cars being affected, if at all?
Volkswagen: More heads to rollpublished at 16:45
A statement from the VW executive committee says...
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The executive committee is expecting further personnel consequences in the next days. The internal group investigations are continuing at a high tempo. All participants in these proceedings that has resulted in unmeasurable harm for Volkswagen, will be subject to the full consequences.
New VW boss to be announced on Friday?published at 16:29
The AFP news agency, quoting an un-named board member at Volkswagen, says a new chief executive will be announced on Friday.
VW boss Martin Winterkorn resigns: 'Fresh start needed'published at 16:08
Image source, Reuters
Image caption,
Correction: Supervisory board member Wolfgang Porsche, acting chairman of the board of Volkswagen Berthold Huber, and VW board member Stephan Weil.
Quote Message
I am shocked by the events of the past few days. Above all, I am stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen Group. As CEO I accept responsibility for the irregularities that have been found in diesel engines and have therefore requested the Supervisory Board to agree on terminating my function as CEO of the Volkswagen Group. I am doing this in the interests of the company even though I am not aware of any wrong doing on my part. Volkswagen needs a fresh start – also in terms of personnel. I am clearing the way for this fresh start with my resignation. I have always been driven by my desire to serve this company, especially our customers and employees. Volkswagen has been, is and will always be my life. The process of clarification and transparency must continue. This is the only way to win back trust. I am convinced that the Volkswagen Group and its team will overcome this grave crisis.”
Martin Winterkorn, from the Volkswagen website.
VW announcement from Wolfsburgpublished at 16:04
VW boss Martin Winterkorn has resigned, says BBC reporter Theo Leggett.
What if the Pope drove a VW diesel?published at 15:57
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VW scandal: Some bankers' viewspublished at 15:50
Societe Generale: the whole car manufacturing sector of the stock market is likely to be "dead money" for a while.
Deutsche Bank: an "investor's nightmare" - rising costs for making diesel cars would wipe out Volkswagen's cost-cutting programme.
VW scandal first unearthed by Newsnight?published at 15:42 British Summer Time 23 September 2015
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VW scandal: News conference has startedpublished at 15:41
Volkswagen has just started a news conference at its headquarters in Wolfsburg. Our man Theo Leggett is there. More as we get it, as we say in the news trade.
VW scandal: The latestpublished at 13:25
Here is a quick summary of where we are now.
Image source, Reuters
German prosecutors say they are are conducting a preliminary inquiry into emissions test rigging by the car manufacturer Volkswagen. The prosecutors said they were considering a formal criminal investigation into Volkswagen employees following complaints from members of the public. Meanwhile Germany's transport minister, Alexander Dobrindt, has strongly denied accusations that he already knew Volkswagen was manipulating emissions data before the scandal came to light. It has emerged that German officials were aware of a gap between Volkswagen emissions recorded in testing and those detected while driving on the road. Volkswagen's directors are holding crisis talks today to consider whether the company's chief executive, Martin Winterkorn, should be replaced.
VW analysis: From our man in Wolfsburgpublished at 15:09
Theo Leggett, BBC business reporter.
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Wolfsburg is Volkswagen Town. It was founded in the 1930s to house workers building the KdF Wagen - the machine that became the Volkswagen Beetle. Like Detroit in the US, it owes its fortunes largely to the car industry - but unlike Detroit, it is still a wealthy and prosperous place. It is dominated by the firm's 6.5-sq-km factory - and the VW badge is everywhere. That is why the scandal at VW really matters to people here. 72,000 people work in the factory - more than half of the town's population. Most of the rest work in service industries which depend on VW employees for their business - shops, restaurants and the like. Even the tourist industry is largely focused on the Autostadt - a giant car-based theme park. If VW falls on hard times, so, very probably, will Wolfsburg The effects will also be felt more widely. The company is a major contributor to the economy of the state of Lower Saxony as a whole. Indeed, the regional government has a 20% stake in the business. And for Germany itself, it is a national champion, a symbol of German manufacturing pride. So the Volkswagen scandal could threaten the entire social fabric of Wolfsburg, seriously hurt the economy of Lower Saxony and deliver a sizeable wound to German national pride. As the company's directors look for ways to limit the fallout and rebuild trust in the brand, there really is a great deal at stake.
Qatar loses $4.6bn in two days: Bloombergpublished at 14:50
Bloomberg has done some interesting calculations, external on what the storm during the last two days for Glencore and VW means for one of their mutual investors, Qatar. Qatar Investment Authority, may have lost €3.8bn (£2.77bn) from its VW stake. The fund is also the largest investor in Glencore, and that holding may have shrunk by £231m. That figure looks less dramatic (though by no means small change) because Glencore's decline has been a slow one for some months.
James May, former Top Gear presenter, tells the BBC...published at 14:39
The thing I find interesting about the history of the car when you look at the big picture is that every time there is something that car makers and consumers complain about - safety requirements, crumple zone requirements, lead being taken out of fuel, demand for catalytic converters, electric cars - everyone says this will ruin motoring, it will make cars impossible to drive. But every single time it happens it makes cars better. All these things are actually a stimulus to improving the car so if there's a bit of a scandal about diesels it's all a bit ugly and unfortunate but I bet you in five years time, if cars are still being fitted with diesel engines, they'll be much better as a result.
Did any other car manufacturers fiddle emissions tests?published at 14:34
The European car makers association, know as ACEA, says there is “no evidence it’s an industry-wide issue”., external
We shall see.
BBC business correspondent, Theo Leggett, points out...published at 14:31
VED is determined according to fuel type and CO2 emissions, but not NOx - so in theory even if UK Volkswagens were using a defeat device it would not affect duty levels.
The VW saga: A reader writes...published at 14:21
Has anyone tested vehicle emissions on a dual dynamometer? This drives both sets of wheels rather than just one set. The simplest and most reliable way that VW could have rigged their software to identify when a car was being tested would have been to detect when one set of wheels was moving and the other was not. So testing vehicles through the official test cycle on a dual dynamometer might throw up some interesting results. Robert Simons.
The VW scandal: A lawyer writes...published at 14:17
On the earlier VED question, more to the point, there is a well established principle that the polluter pays so will drivers of VW group diesels be charged with arrears of duty?
James Humphery.
German government throws support behind car industrypublished at 14:06
Image source, Getty Images
More from the German government on the VW scandal now. It says the car industry remains an "important pillar" for the economy despite the deepening crisis surrounding Volkswagen.
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It is a highly innovative and very successful industry for Germany, with lots of jobs. It is an important pillar for the German economy and we see no reason to doubt that the outstanding, innovative auto industry will remain just that and continue to be competitive
German government spokeswoman
Auto enrolment problemspublished at 13:48
BBC personal finance reporter tweets
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