Martin Winterkorn

Martin Winterkorn (born 24 May 1947) is a German former business executive who was chairman of the board of management (CEO, Vorstandsvorsitzender in German) of Volkswagen AG, the parent company of the Volkswagen Group, chairman of the supervisory board of Audi, and chairman of the board of management of Porsche Automobil Holding SE.

Winterkorn studied metallurgy and metal physics at the University of Stuttgart from 1966 to 1973.

From 1973 to 1977 he was a PhD student at the Max-Planck-Institute for Metal Research and Metal Physics, where he received his doctorate in 1977.

He played football as a goalkeeper.

Winterkorn embarked on his career in 1977, as a specialist assistant in the research division "Process Engineering" at Robert Bosch GmbH.

From 1978 to 1981, he headed the refrigerant compressor development group "Substances and Processes" at Robert Bosch and Bosch-Siemens-Hausgeräte GmbH.

In 1993 Winterkorn became head of Group Quality Assurance at Volkswagen AG, and was appointed General Manager of Volkswagen AG with power of attorney in March 1994.

He was additionally responsible for the VW Group Product Management from June 1995.

In January 1996, Winterkorn took over from Herbert Schuster as Member of the Brand Board of Management for "Technical Development" for the Volkswagen brand.

From July 2000, he was Member of the VW Group Board of Management for Technical Development.

Winterkorn was instrumental in getting Volkswagen CEO Ferdinand Piëch to approve the production of the New Beetle.

Winterkorn had been chairman of the board of management of Audi AG since 1 March 2002.

He headed the Audi brand group, including the brands SEAT and Lamborghini, which was formed on 1 January 2002.

Winterkorn was on the board of supervisors for German football club Bayern München from 22 February 2003 until 18 December 2018.

Winterkorn was credited for the successful partnership between Audi and Bayern.

Winterkorn also assumed responsibility for Technical Development at Audi AG with effect from 1 January 2003.

In his capacity as CEO of the Board of Management of Audi AG, Winterkorn was also Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG.

Since June 2003, Winterkorn has served as an honorary professor of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, in recognition of his service to the promotion of research at the establishment.

He succeeded Bernd Pischetsrieder as CEO of Volkswagen AG in 2007.

Prior to that, he had been the chairman of the board of management of the Volkswagen Group subsidiary Audi AG.

He succeeded Bernd Pischetsrieder as CEO of Volkswagen AG on 1 January 2007, and by 2014 he was the highest paid CEO of all companies listed on Germany's blue-chip DAX stock market.

He was featured both in the 2007 and the 2008 Power List of American automotive magazine Motor Trend.

After he succeeded Pischetsrieder in 2007, Winterkorn embarked on the "Strategie 2018" with the goal to bypass General Motors and Toyota by the year 2018, to become the world's largest automaker.

Among Winterkorn's initiatives are the platforms MQB and MLB which standardize the area between accelerator pedal and front wheels (including engines) where 60% of the development costs occur, to reduce cost while increasing design flexibility for the rest of the car.

In the VW Group, he was viewed as having attention to detail, being "product-focused" and "methodical and precise", but also demanding.

Winterkorn resigned from Volkswagen on 23 September 2015 after the Volkswagen emissions scandal was revealed.

He resigned as chairman of Audi on 11 November 2015, after further information associated with the scandal was revealed in regard to VW's gasoline-powered engines.

In September 2015, Winterkorn apologized for Volkswagen AG having installed software in its diesel cars to allow the vehicles to pass emissions tests by decreasing emissions when the vehicle detected it was undergoing testing but otherwise pollute at amounts well beyond legally allowed limits.

Winterkorn confirmed that Volkswagen AG could face fines of up to $18bn, but had not issued a recall at the time of Winterkorn's departure.

Winterkorn blamed "the terrible mistakes of a few people," whom he did not name, for the international scandal.

Winterkorn resigned as CEO on 23 September 2015, as he accepted responsibility for the scandal while asserting that he was "not aware of any wrongdoing on my part."

Winterkorn additionally resigned as Audi chairman on 11 November 2015.

The resignation came a week after additional revelations were made public regarding further vehicle emission test rigging, this time in gasoline-powered vehicles, in amounts approaching one million.

Winterkorn was criminally indicted over the emissions cheating scandal in the United States on 3 May 2018 on charges of fraud and conspiracy.

In April 2019 he was criminally indicted on charges of fraud in Germany.

He is currently a fugitive of justice in the United States, and is wanted by the Environmental Protection Agency for conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act, and three counts of wire fraud.

In February 2024, Winterkorn appeared in a German court to testify, with his own criminal trial expected to start later in the year.

In September 2020, the Braunschweig state court ruled that Winterkorn would face trial over his role in the emissions scandal.

He faces charges of fraud and market manipulation regarding the installation of the illegal “defeat device” in Volkswagen cars but knowingly failing to inform the markets in good time.

The trial is waiting to be scheduled.