Rating agency Standard & Poor’s warned Thursday it may downgrade Volkswagen AG because of massive costs expected from the crisis over VW’s diesel emissions crisis.
VW said earlier this week it will take a $7.3 billion charge to pay damages related to its admission that hidden software allows pollution-control systems on 2.0-liter diesel cars to work normally when being tested for harmful tailpipe emissions — but turns those systems off during regular driving. That allowed 11 million cars worldwide to produce up to 40 times the allowable smog-forming pollution allowed in the United States.
The company’s CEO, Martin Winterkorn, resigned Wednesday. And a German magazine reported Thursday that at least two more high-ranking VW executives are expected to leave the company. The German automaker’s board is expected to name a new CEO as early as Friday.
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