Skip to main content

Volkswagen names another new executive, but still no diesel fix in sight

Volkswagen
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Volkswagen continues to shuffle executives as it looks for a way out of the ongoing diesel scandal. The company faces mounting pressure from regulators and outraged customers to find a solution, but still hasn’t announced a recall of its U.S. diesel cars.

What it did do is appoint Hinrich J. Woebcken head of the Volkswagen brand in North America. Woebcken will be responsible for all activities related to the Volkswagen brand (not the other car brands controlled by the VW Group) in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. VW says his appointment is an important part of an ongoing effort to streamline corporate infrastructure.

Recommended Videos

The move also makes Woebcken chairman of Volkswagen Group of America, Volkswagen Mexico, and Volkswagen Group of Canada. However, current VW Group of America CEO Michael Horn will retain his post.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

The 55-year-old Woebcken comes to Volkswagen from Knorr-Bremse, a German company primarily known for supplying braking systems for commercial vehicles. An industrial engineer by training, his experience is primarily in purchasing and supply chains. Previous automotive experience includes a decade-long stint at BMW beginning in 2004.

The diesel scandal has made it a particularly bad time to be a Volkswagen Group executive. The shakeup began when VW Group CEO Martin Winterkorn stepped down, and was replaced by Porsche CEO Matthias Muller. R&D boss Ulrich Hackenberg and head of design Walter de Silva subsequently stepped down as well, and were replaced by Ulrich Eichhorn and Michael Mauer, respectively.

Meanwhile, it’s still unclear when Volkswagen will begin recalling the defective diesel cars, including 482,000 TDI models with 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engines, and an additional 85,000 with 3.0-liter V6 engines. The California Air Resources Board recently rejected  a proposed fix for the 2.0-liter cars, and hasn’t weighed in on a proposal concocted by Porsche and Audi for the 3.0-liter models.

Stephen Edelstein
Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…
Honda unveils sleek electric sedan and SUV prototypes at CES 2025
Honda 0 Saloon and Honda 0 SUV prototypes.

Honda’s next-generation electric vehicles are a step closer to production. At CES 2025, the automaker unveiled prototypes of the 0 Saloon and 0 SUV, the first two of its 0 Series EVs that will start rolling off assembly lines in Ohio next year.

The two EVs follow 0 Series concept cars Honda unveiled at CES 2024. These are closer to what buyers can expect to see in showrooms, hence the label of “prototype” rather than “concept.” How close exactly? When Honda unveils a prototype, that vehicle generally makes the transition to production with minimal changes. But that would be particularly remarkable here.
They still look like concept cars

Read more
Digital Trends’ Top Tech of CES 2025 Awards
Top Tech of CES

Las Vegas is overrun. Every billboard in town is shouting about AI, hotel bar tops now sport a sea of laptops, and after hours The Strip is elbow to elbow with engineers toting yard-long beers.

That means CES, the year’s biggest tech bacchanalia, has come to town, and Digital Trends editors have spent the last four days frolicking among next year’s crop of incredible TVs, computers, tablets, and EVs. We’re in heaven.

Read more
Sony and Honda’s Afeela 1 EV makes more sense at CES than in the real world
Afeela 1 front quarter view.

The Sony car is almost here. After its creation via a joint venture with Honda in 2022 and two years’ worth of prototypes, the electronics giant’s Afeela brand is finally taking reservations for its first electric vehicle, with deliveries scheduled to start in 2026.

But will it be worth the wait? Coinciding with the opening of reservations, Sony Honda Mobility brought updated prototypes of the Afeela 1 (as it’s now officially known) to CES 2025, representing what California customers (Afeela is only taking reservations in that state) who put down a $200 refundable deposit can expect when they take delivery.

Read more