VW, Audi and Porsche managers set to be sacked

LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Heads are set to roll at Volkswagen (Other OTC: VLKAF - news) , Audi (Other OTC: AUDVF - news) and Porsche in the wake of the emissions scandal Reuters reported Thursday. Volkswagen acknowledged last week it had deliberately deceived officials about how much its diesel cars polluted.

A senior source said Audi R&D boss Ulrich Hackenberg, Porsche R&D head Wolfgang Hatz and VW's US chief executive Michael Horn will be dismissed at a meeting of the supervisory board on Friday.

However it's believed that Porsche's chief executive Matthias Muller is the frontrunner for the position of Volkswagen AG chief executive, replacing Martin Winterkorn who resigned on Wednesday.

The new CEO could be appointed at the same meeting of the supervisory board.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) also emerged that California owners of diesel-powered Audis and Volkswagens were warned by Volkswagen of America in April about an "emissions service action" affecting the vehicles, Reuters reported.

The report said that owners were told their cars would need to be taken to a dealer for new software to ensure tailpipe emissions were "optimised and operating efficiently".

However VW didn't explain that it hoped to satisfy government regulators, who were growing increasingly sceptical about the reason for discrepancies between lab emissions test results and real world pollution.

Volkswagen insisted was a technical glitch that could be easily solved. In December 2014, California Air Resources Board and Environmental Protection Agency officials agreed to allow a voluntary recall of the company's diesel cars.

California Air Resources Board spokesman Dave Clegern confirmed the letters were part of that recall.

"This is one of the fixes they presented to us as a potential solution. It didn't work." The recall letter told owners of certain 2010-2014 two-litre diesel Volkswagen vehicles the software update would fix an issue with the malfunction indicator light illuminating.

"If the [light] illuminates for any reason, your vehicle will not pass an IM emissions inspection in some regions," the letter warned.

"The vehicle's engine management software has been improved to assure your vehicle's tailpipe emissions are optimised and operating efficiently." It noted that California owners required the update before the state would renew vehicle registrations.

Volkswagen said 11 million of its cars globally could be affected in the emissions scandal.

The German company has set aside €6.5bn (£4.7bn) in its third-quarter accounts to help cover the costs of any fallout.

Reuters reports the US Department of Justice has already launched a criminal probe and at least 25 proposed class actions on behalf of consumers have already been filed in seven states (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) .