Volkswagen USA boss Michael Horn, who famously went on stage just days after the dieselgate scandal blew up to admit "we totally screwed up", has left the company with immediate effect "to pursue other opportunities".
An official VW statement quoted global brand CEO Herbert Diess as saying that Horn "showed exemplary leadership during difficult times for the brand”. It was not specified if Horn, who joined VW in 1990 and took over the leadership of VW USA in 2014, had another job to go to.
"During his time in the US Michael Horn built up a strong relationship with our national dealer body," added Diess.
VW USA Chairman Hinrich Woebcken will take over the CEO job on an interim basis.
It is now six months since VW admitted installing software on its diesel cars to cheat US emissions tests. To date, the firm has not come to an agreement with regulators on how to fix the 580,000 cars affected by the scandal in the US, with the threat of the firm having to buy back all the affected cars becoming increasingly likely.
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VW USA no longer has the Horn
Thats how business works.
But it is like FIFA, the Americans will lead the way and Europe will eventually follow. Because news actually travels these days, rather more than in whatever century VW is living in.