RESIGNATION STATEMENT - Prof. Dr Martin Winterkorn.

“I am shocked by the events of the past few days. Above all, I am stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen Group.

As CEO I accept responsibility for the irregularities that have been found in diesel engines and have therefore requested the Supervisory Board to agree on terminating my function as CEO of the Volkswagen Group. I am doing this in the interests of the company even though I am not aware of any wrong doing on my part.

Volkswagen needs a fresh start – also in terms of personnel. I am clearing the way for this fresh start with my resignation.

I have always been driven by my desire to serve this company, especially our customers and employees. Volkswagen has been, is and will always be my life.

The process of clarification and transparency must continue. This is the only way to win back trust. I am convinced that the Volkswagen Group and its team will overcome this grave crisis.”

BREAKING NEWS - VW Chairman Ferdinand Piech resigns with immediate effect.

Volkswagen Group Supervisory Board Chairman Ferdinand Piech unexpectedly resigned on Saturday after losing a showdown he provoked with CEO Martin Winterkorn.

Piech, a dominant figure at VW for more than two decades and the grandson of the inventor of the VW Beetle, also resigned as a member of the supervisory board and any other mandates within the Volkswagen Group with immediate effect, VW said.

A panel of senior supervisory board members at Volkswagen said a loss of trust was to blame for the sudden departure of Piech.

"The members of the steering committee came to a consensus that in light of the past weeks the mutual trust necessary for successful cooperation was no longer there," the six-member panel said in a statement.

The leadership crisis at VW burst into the open this month when German weekly magazine Der Spiegel quoted Piech, the 78-year-old patriarch of the family that owns 51 percent of voting rights in VW, as saying he had "distanced" himself from Winterkorn.

The comment came at a time when VW is slashing costs and revamping operations to boost profitability. It has struggled in the U.S. and posted lower profits at its core autos division.

Tensions between Piech and Winterkorn appeared to have eased a week ago when senior supervisory board members backed the CEO, leaving Piech isolated in a five-to-one vote and forcing him to to agree to a joint statement supporting Winterkorn.

But sources said at the time he would have faced calls for his own resignation had he not backed the CEO.

Deputy Chairman Berthold Huber will temporarily assume leadership of the board until the election of a new chairman, Volkswagen said, adding that Piech's wife, Ursula, had also resigned from her posts at the group.

Huber said VW needed to end the uncertainty among employees caused by the leadership crisis.

Weil, the premier of Lower Saxony, which owns 20 percent of VW, said Piech's resignation was necessary to create clarity about the carmaker's leadership.

Said Weil: "I regret the resignation of Ferdinand Piech, but it was unavoidable in the end."

Piech's cousin, Porsche Automobil Chairman Wolfgang Porsche, who owns 50.7 percent of voting rights in VW Group, in a statement Saturday thanked Piech "for his decades of extraordinary and highly successful service to the Volkswagen Group."

Also in the statement Porsche said: “We deeply regret the developments of the last few days ... Our great loyalty to the Volkswagen Group and its 600,000 employees remains unchanged and we assume our responsibility as a principal shareholder."

REPORT HERE

Statement from Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo

“Ferrari will have an important role to play within the FCA Group in the upcoming flotation on Wall Street. This will open up a new and different phase which I feel should be spearheaded by the CEO of the Group.

This is the end of an era and so I have decided to leave my position as Chairman after almost 23 marvellous and unforgettable years in addition to those spent at Enzo Ferrari’s side in the 1970s.

My thanks, first and foremost, to the exceptional Ferrari women and men from the factory, the offices, the race tracks and the markets across the world. They were the real architects of the company’s spectacular growth, its many unforgettable victories and its transformation into one of the world’s strongest brands.

A warm farewell and my thanks also to all of our technical and commercial partners, our dealers across the globe and, most particularly, the clients and collectors whose passion I so wholeheartedly share.

But my thoughts go also to our fans who have always supported us with great enthusiasm especially through the Scuderia’s most difficult moments.

Ferrari is the most wonderful company in the world. It has been a great privilege and honour to have been its leader. I devoted all of my enthusiasm and commitment to it over the years. Together with my family, it was, and continues to be, the most important thing in my life.

I wish the shareholders, particularly Piero Ferrari who has always been by my side, and everyone in the Company the many more years of success that Ferrari deserves.”