German court sends VW execs to prison over Dieselgate scandal

These devices detected when a car was undergoing emissions testing and altered performance to meet environmental standards — while in real-world driving conditions, the cars emitted pollutants far above legal limits. In 2017, Volkswagen admitted to manipulating emissions data in the United States, sparking global backlash and triggering one of the biggest corporate scandals in automotive history. The fallout plunged the Wolfsburg-based carmaker into a deep crisis. In 2019, German prosecutors charged then-CEO Herbert Diess, Chair Hans Dieter Pötsch and former CEO Martin Winterkorn — who resigned shortly after the scandal broke in 2015 — with market manipulation related to the emissions deception. In 2020, a German court ended legal proceedings against Diess and Pötsch as VW coughed up a €9 million fine over the scandal. Winterkorn was originally set to be part of this trial, but was removed for health reasons before it kicked off in September 2021. In his capacity as a witness and d ... Read full article.