VW to Require Execs to Rotate Assignments

Volkswagen AG Chairman Hans-Dieter Poetsch tells Welt am Sonntag the company will require executives in certain positions to change assignments periodically.

The job shuffling presumably will reduce the chances of another scandal such as the one that surfaced in September involving diesel engines rigged with secret software to evade emission tests. The company acknowledged it has sold about 11 million such engines over the past six years.

Poetsch also tells the German newspaper VW will make sure its future engine control software is developed using a “four-eye principle” to enhance oversight of the process.

Job rotations will be difficult because of the complexities of the jobs themselves, Poetsch concedes. But he notes that, for example, engine control unit programmers from the group’s Audi, Porsche and VW brands could swap positions.