Volkswagen appoints American to run US operation



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Volkswagen has chosen a US executive to resume operations in the United States in hopes of accelerating its recovery after the scandal of emissions fraud that rocked the company three years ago.

Scott Keogh, who has been running the company's Audi of America division for six years, has been named president and CEO of Volkswagen of America. He replaces Hinrich J. Woebcken, who reorganized Volkswagen of America in three years at the helm.

In the United States, sales of Volkswagen brand models have increased 5.5% to reach more than 266,000 cars and SUVs so far this year. However, this figure was lower than that of the company sold for the same period in 2014, a year before Volkswagen acknowledged installing software designed to help its cars meet government emission standards.

Keogh, 49, has reportedly more than doubled Audi's sales in the United States and positioned his cars in the same category as other luxury automakers like BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Woebcken, 58, has not been appointed to a new executive position, but will continue to advise the company.

In 2015, Volkswagen admitted that millions of diesel vehicles were reducing nitrogen oxide emissions when testing embedded software. In the United States and other countries, the company had gained an increasingly popular customer base by claiming that its vehicles reduced exhaust emissions and that they drove further with a gallon of fuel than cars. with gasoline. In fact, the software allowed the company's diesels to release far more pollutants than were allowed when they were driven out of a laboratory.

Many consumers have fled the Volkswagen cars after these revelations and sales have plummeted in the United States. The Department of Justice sued the company, which had been forced to buy most of the 600,000 diesel vehicles sold in the US with cheat software.

Last year, Volkswagen pleaded guilty to crime charges in the United States. He paid $ 4.3 billion in fines and was put on probation for three years. A former federal prosecutor monitored his compliance with ethical and regulatory measures. In May, US prosecutors indicted a former chief executive, Martin Winterkorn, for conspiracy and cable fraud in the emissions case.

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