VW Dismisses U.S. Chief

Michael Horn has been removed as president and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, effective immediately.

His dismissal comes nearly six months after VW admitted rigging 580,000 diesel vehicles to elude U.S. emission standards. Horn, who was well-liked by VW dealers for his candor, professed to know nothing about the cheating until a few days before it was publicly revealed in mid-September.

“Our company was dishonest,” he declared a week after the cheating was revealed, adding, “We screwed up.”

Horn also vented his anger at the deceit during a U.S. House committee hearing in October, fuming that “this company has to bloody learn, and use this process to get its act together.”

Horn’s position is being filled on an interim basis by Hinrich Woebcken, who was named in January to become chairman of VGA on April 1.

Horn, 54, joined Volkswagen AG more than 25 years ago and was named head of VGA in January 2014. VW’s dealer advisory council praised his conduct during the diesel crisis but blasted VW’s “continued mismanagement” of the issue, which remains unresolved.