As Volkswagen comes under scrutiny, its CEO Martin Winterkorn reluctantly announced his resignation from the company. Though he continued to deny any knowledge of the defeat device software that eventually caused dieselgate—and his downfall—the CEO accepted responsibility for the “irregularities” and stepped down, making way for Porsche boss Matthias Mueller to take his place. However, this is only the beginning of VW’s plans to regain consumer trust, but will anything help make the German automaker regain its former glory?
Why Is Volkswagen Giving Whistleblowers Amnesty?
At the end of November, Volkswagen ended a very strange offer that it had given to all its employees. The auto manufacturer told its employees that if they came forward with information about the carmaker’s two current scandals, the employees would not be fired or suffer damages claims from the manufacturer.
Will The VW Whistleblower Program Work?
The program was designed to help speed up the investigation process at the German mark, and the strategy has been successfully deployed at companies like Siemens and VW’s truck-making branch MAN. This means that VW may be able to conduct a fast investigation, which may help it avoid steeper fines. When Toyota was slow with its investigations during the sticky accelerator recall a few years ago, the company was slapped with a $1.2 billion fine, but GM cooperated with government officials and only suffered a $900 million fine during its ignition switch recall.
The German automaker is still looking at hefty fines for the dieselgate recall, but they are taking every opportunity to minimize damage and win back consumer confidence. Do you think they are doing enough? Log onto our Facebook and Twitter pages and let us know.
