![]() The emissions scandal engulfing Volkswagen, whose C.E.O., Martin Winterkorn, resigned this week, could be a boon for green technology. This is one of the more remarkable corporate scandals in history, and by the time it’s over the company, which at the moment is the world’s largest automaker, is likely to be a shadow of its past self. Winterkorn’s departure, though, will do little to relieve the pressure on Volkswagen, or to save it from the travails to come. But, given that this was not, as in most auto-industry scandals, a case of a defective part but rather a deliberate corporate effort to deceive consumers and regulators, it was impossible for him to stay on, particularly given his reputation as a hands-on, technically adept micromanager: he either did know or should have known, and, in either case, he has to bear the blame. Winterkorn had initially tried to ride out the scandal, and there’s no evidence (so far) that he knew about the software cheating. The cars were set to recognize when they were being tested and, if they were, to abruptly begin emitting far less nitrogen oxide than they would on the road. of Volkswagen, stepped down in the wake of revelations that his company had equipped eleven million diesel-engine cars with software explicitly designed to cheat on emissions tests. It took a few days, but the inevitable happened Wednesday: Martin Winterkorn, the embattled C.E.O.
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