Fiat Chrysler CEO Scolded Aide for Early Denial on Emissions

The chief executive of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV admonished a company spokesman in 2015 for saying the company didn’t rig its vehicles with illegal software to pass emissions tests, according to documents filed in a related lawsuit.

An excerpt of the 2015 email from CEO Sergio Marchionne to Fiat Chrysler’s then-head of U.S. communications, Gualberto Ranieri, was revealed in federal court in Manhattan on Monday. The spokesman had issued a statement days after Volkswagen AG admitted to cheating on emissions tests that Fiat Chrysler did not use so-called defeat devices.

“Are you out of your goddam mind?” Marchionne wrote. He also said that the spokesman should be fired and called his actions “utterly stupid and unconscionable.” read more »

Porsche SE executives, board members are safe to travel to U.S.: legal chief

Top managers and supervisory board members at Porsche SE, Volkswagen’s majority shareholder, can still travel to the United States without risk or fear for prosecution, the company’s head of legal affairs said.

“Porsche SE is convinced that no board member can be accused of offences, and that the members of the management and supervisory boards can still travel to the United States without restrictions and risk,” Manfred Doess, the holding firm’s legal chief said on Tuesday at Porsche SE’s annual shareholder meeting.

U.S. authorities earlier this month issued an arrest warrant against Volkswagen’s former chief executive, Martin Winterkorn, after indicting him on four felony charges in the diesel emissions scandal. read more »