VW asks head of Porsche to take over

BERLIN – Volkswagen’s board appointed the head of its Porsche unit as CEO on Friday, handing longtime company insider Matthias Mueller the task of trying to lead the world’s top-selling automaker past a growing emissions scandal.

The company also said it was suspending some employees and would reorganize its North America operations after admitting it used a piece of engine software to cheat on diesel car emissions tests in the U.S.

The decisions come after the previous CEO, Martin Winterkorn, quit the job this week over the scandal, which has shredded the company’s reputation.

The company could be heavily fined and hit with class-action lawsuits costing billions. It also will have to fix programming it has said is in some 11 million cars worldwide, far more than the 482,000 identified last week by U.S. authorities.

The 62-year-old Mueller, who has spent his career with Volkswagen Group brands, acknowledged that he was taking the job “at a time in which our company faces unprecedented challenges. I have respect for this, but I am also facing this task with confidence.”

Mueller brings experience with several of Volkswagen’s 12 brands to his new job at the head of a sprawling automotive group with nearly 600,000 employees worldwide.

He was an apprentice toolmaker at Audi between finishing high school and studying computer science at Munich’s University of Applied Sciences. Mueller returned to Audi in 1978 and worked his way up to become head of product management for Audi, Seat and Lamborghini.

In 2007, Mueller became head of product management for the Volkswagen Group. He has been Porsche chief executive since 2010 and a member of parent Volkswagen’s management board since March.