Senior Volkswagen directors are poised to meet to discuss a growing scandal over the company’s cheating in diesel cars’ emissions tests and decide whether Martin Winterkorn should continue as chief executive.
大众汽车(Volkswagen)监督董事会将召开会议,就一桩愈演愈烈的、有关大众在柴油车尾气检测中造假的丑闻进行讨论,并就文德恩(Martin Winterkorn)是否应继续担任大众首席执行官一职做出决定。
VW announced on Tuesday that it had set aside 6.5bn to cover the costs of repairing 11m diesel-powered vehicles worldwide and the company warned that it would therefore have to cut its 2015 profit target.
大众周二宣布已拨备65亿欧元,来负担修复全球1100万辆大众柴油引擎汽车的成本,该公司还警告称,将不得不因此下调2015年的利润目标。
In a letter obtained by the Financial Times, Bernd Osterloh, VW’s top labour representative and a member of its supervisory board, assured employees that the body would do everything to investigate the matter quickly and make sure there are “personnel consequences”.
英国《金融时报》拿到的一封信件显示,大众最高级别的劳工代表、监督董事会成员贝恩德攠斯特洛(Bernd Osterloh)向员工们保证,监督董事会将采取一切措施迅速调查此事,并确保“有人为此承担后果”。
He added: “I can assure you, these will not be [low-ranking] clerks
他补充称:“我可以向你们保证,这些人不会是(低级别)职员。”
However, Mr Winterkorn signalled on Tuesday that he had no intention of resigning.
但文德恩周二表示,他无意辞职。
Mr Winterkorn must explain to directors what he knew about allegations — made on Friday by the Environmental Protection Agency, the US regulator — that VW installed software on diesel-powered vehicles which understated their nitrogen oxide emissions during tests.
文德恩必须向大众的董事们解释,对于美国环保署(Environmental Protection Agency)上周五作出的指控,他到底了解哪些情况。美国环保署上周五指控称,大众在柴油引擎汽车上安装软件,以让这些车在接受尾气检测时减少氮氧化物排放。
The alleged manipulation dates back to 2009, about two years after Mr Winterkorn, an accomplished engineer, became chief executive.
指控中提到的操纵尾气排放的行为可追溯到2009年,即在经验丰富的工程师文德恩出任大众首席执行官约两年后。
“The CEO should be aware of a vehicle development issue like this and as CEO he bears the ultimate responsibility,” says Ferdindand Dudenh, automotive expert at the University of Duisburg-Essen.
杜伊斯堡-埃森大学(University of Duisburg-Essen)汽车专家费迪丹德尠筧霍费尔(Ferdinand Dudenh)表示:“这位首席执行官应该知晓像这样的汽车研发问题,作为首席执行官,他应承担最终的责任。”
A person close to the board said: “The pressure on the company is enormous. Something will have to happen.”
一位熟悉大众监督董事会的人士表示:“公司正面临巨大压力。肯定会有一些事情发生。”