Volkswagen CEO Resigns

Volkswagen's CEO is out as the company reels from its emissions-cheating scandal. Martin Winterkorn announced the decision today, reports CNBC, and no successor has been named yet. The move comes as class-action lawsuits have begun popping up around the country by angry buyers of the company's diesel vehicles, reports ABC News. Meanwhile, a post at Mother Jones considers the possibility of criminal charges against Winterkorn and other VW execs, given the potential threat to public health over the dirty engines.

It was becoming increasingly difficult to see how Winterkorn could stay on and distance himself from the mess. In a profile, the New York Times relays this anecdote that speaks to his hands-on approach: While attending a car show in 2011, he checked out a Hyundai and fiddled with its adjustable steering wheel. "It doesn’t clank," he told a VW colleague. "BMW can’t do it. We can’t do it. They can." The moment, captured in a YouTube video that now has nearly 2 million views, cemented his reputation as a CEO who pays attention to the smallest of details about his company's vehicles. (More Volkswagen stories.)