Nine years after the Dieselgate case erupted, its most prominent defendant—former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn—stepped into the courtroom of the Braunschweig Court in Germany on September 3, 2024, to face charges of fraud, market manipulation, and perjury. The trial was originally set to begin in 2021 but was delayed due to Winterkorn’s poor health; he is now 77 years old.
The Dieselgate scandal centers on the manipulation of nitrogen oxide emissions data, which occurred between 2006 and 2015 (the year the deception was uncovered) in the control systems of diesel engines in certain car and commercial vehicle models produced by the Volkswagen Group. This tampering allegedly affected around nine million vehicles, and the case is estimated to have cost the German company $32 billion in legal fees and compensation.
Winterkorn, in particular, is accused of allowing vehicles equipped with software designed to manipulate nitrogen oxide emission levels to be sold, despite being aware of its existence. He is also charged with delaying the disclosure of this tampering to the markets and lying during testimony in a parliamentary inquiry in January 2017. During that inquiry, Winterkorn claimed he became aware of the manipulations in September 2015, while the prosecution argues that he had knowledge of the issue earlier that year. Winterkorn has consistently maintained his innocence, but if convicted, he faces up to ten years in prison.
