WASHINGTON — Volkswagen’s top U.S. executive is stepping down amid the company’s ongoing emissions cheating scandal, the company said Wednesday.
Michael Horn, the company’s U.S. president and CEO, is leaving “to pursue other opportunities effective immediately,” the company said in a statement.
He had been with the German automaker for 25 years, assuming his most recent post in 2014.
Horn’s sudden departure comes as the company continues to grapple with the fallout from its admission last year that nearly 600,000 cars were sold in the U.S. with software that regulators say was designed to cheat on required emissions tests.
The company potentially faces more than $20 billion of fines from state and federal regulators, as well as hundreds of class-action lawsuits filed on behalf of vehicle owners. The Justice Department also is conducting a criminal investigation.
It was Horn who was sent to apologize to consumers at a congressional hearing in October. He told lawmakers that top corporate officials had no knowledge of the cheating software installed in 11 million diesel cars worldwide.
A federal judge has given the company until March 24 to reach an agreement with the government on recalling the affected vehicles.
