Volkswagen announced the unexpected departure of its director in the US – The World

 8:28 p.m.
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 AFP .- Volkswagen Wednesday announced the unexpected departure of its CEO in the United States, Michael Horn , at a time when local authorities accentuate the pressure on
Horn German automotive group by the scandal of diesel engines altered.

, 54, who was the chief executive of Volkswagen in United States since 2014, will leave the post of immediately, the group said in a statement, without specifying the reasons although noting that it is a decision made by agreement “mutual”.

in its place will assume on an interim basis functions Hinrich Woebcken , the new president of Volkswagen for the countries of North America (United States, Canada and Mexico).

the Horn output comes a day after it became known that the United States has expanded its investigation against Volkswagen in the case of changes in diesel engines to evade controls antipollution local and to send a new request to the German manufacturer to ask technical details the

systems subject of the investigation. the auto giant faces lawsuits in several countries recognizing that software was installed souped in 11 million cars in the world to seem less polluting than they really were.

A little less than 600,000 cars affected are in the United States, where the scandal first broke.

civil claims filed by the Justice department could largely exceed 20,000 million dollars, depending on demand.