Report: Volkswagen Suspends Quality Chief For 'Incriminating' Letters
Volkswagen has suspended its chief of quality control for “incriminating correspondence” it found regarding its illegally polluting diesel cars, German newspaper Bild (via Automotive News) reported Wednesday. Tuch was suspended last week, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Frank Tuch is the fifth high-ranking official suspended from Volkswagen because of the scandal. According to reports, Tuch wasn’t part of the company when it developed the EA 189 engines that have become the center of the cheating scandal. The former Lotus COO and Porsche quality control officer may have known about the illegal software after he joined the company in 2010.
Tuch’s suspension is the latest in a string of reports coming from Wolfsburg that indicate the cheating scandal could be more widespread than previously reported.
When Volkswagen of America chief Michael Horn testified to a congressional committee Oct. 8, Horn said it appeared that the illegal “defeat device” created to deceive emissions tests was created by rogue engineers. Recent reports suggested that multiple generations of the software, developed for different engines, may have involved up to 30 different engineers.
Volkswagen didn’t immediately comment on Tuch’s suspension.
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"may have involved up to 30 different engineers" The original article at Der Spiegel said "managers" or "persons" - no mention of engineers - although there were surely some engineers involved (much to the discredit of my profession).
Really cynical view... VW to employees: "Purge your files...or else!"
It's going to be a long time before some real leadership once again emerges at VW. By leadership I mean someone who is unassailable in authority. Right now, with all these executives being fired willy-nilly for either real or imagined reasons by people who are probably just as guilty, the place must be in a complete uproar. The only person who would accept the job of new chief in North America turned the offer down, because he wouldn't be on the main Supervisory board but reporting to someone two layers down, so now the guy running China is going to look after NA as well. Maybe. Because who wants to be on TV at a Senate hearing in Washington having questions hurled at you by grandstanding senators? And not necessarily having any backup from what's left of the VW bluebloods back home. You're bound to look like a complete fool. Governments are going to be demanding some REAL answers from VW anytime soon, but the executives are busy playing musical chairs. Nobody wants to face the Spanish Inquisition, because nobody trusts their colleagues to bck them up. Everybody is maneuvering to try to escape blame. Sadly, this is all going to get a lot worse before it gets any better, if ever. The Supervisory Board people might want to expand their numbers temporarily to get more executives on board, but alas!, the organization is so atrophied and moribund, so hidebound that they cannot imagine re-inventing themselves. It's a brittle company and another hard shock is going to shatter it.
It's a good insight to see what and how a company messes up, and their response to it is even better.