Volkswagen has been in the eye of a storm since it emerged that the carmaker had been cheating on gas emission tests in the United States by rigging its diesel-powered cars.
In the face of the scandal which has rocked the company, Volkswagen's incoming chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch forewarned managers that the incident could pose to be "an existence-threatening crisis for the company."
On Sept. 22, Volkswagen admitted that it had installed a software on close to 11 million diesel-powered cars worldwide, which allowed the vehicles to cheat on the gas emission tests in the United States. The rigged software would allow the nitrogen oxide emission of a diesel car to decrease when the car undergoes the test.
Things got messier on Sept. 25 when the German transport minister let on that the rigging also affected 2.8 million cars in the carmaker's home country.
Owing to the debacle, which has resulted in the respected German automaker losing face worldwide, the company's CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned. He was replaced by Matthias Mueller of Porsche.
The scandal also led to a dip in Volkswagen's value as its shares plummeted. A survey conducted by Puls, a market research firm in Germany, revealed that 41 percent of consumers view the brand as being damaged for the long term. Eleven percent of the consumers no longer want to purchase a Volkswagen due to the incident.
Despite the dismal situation, Hans Dieter Poetsch is optimistic that the carmaker will be able to overcome the debacle. Poetsch is expected to be appointed the head of a 20-member panel per a Reuters report.
Even as the future Volkswagen chairman may be hopeful for the company's future, Chancellor Angela Merkel is of the opinion that the incident will have an impact on the German economy but in a limited way.
"I believe that the reputation of the German economy, the confidence in the German economy is not so shaken that we do not continue to count as a good business location," she told German radio.
Volkswagen has until Wednesday, Oct. 7, to inform Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority how it intends to make its vehicles compliant with emission standards and by when.
