The VW boss who famously apologized to America has left the company

REUTERS/Gary Cameron

Volkswagen Group of America CEO Michael Horn has left the company six months after VW became embroiled in a massive emissions cheating scandal.

Horn, 54, took over as the US division's boss in January 2014 with the goal to help turn around flagging sales.

Unfortunately for Horn, poor sales have been compounded by the revelation that VW installed emissions cheating software on 500,000 cars in the US.

Horn's job with VW had been in a precarious state since the scandal, although support from the company's US dealer network provided the executive with a temporary reprieve. 

Hinrich J. Woebcken will take over Horn's job atop VW's US operations on an interim basis, the automaker said in a statement.

"The Volkswagen leadership hammer continues to fall," Kelley Blue Book analyst Akshay Anand said in an email.

"Ex-CEO Michael Horn had many VW dealers as allies so it will be interesting to see if Woebcken can continue that, and more importantly, if he can help VW navigate through its crisis."

Just days after news of the emissions scandal broke, Horn took the stage at the launch event for the 2016 Passat sedan and apologized for VW's behavior. 

"Let's be clear about this, our company was dishonest with government regulators and with all of you," Horn said. "We have totally screwed up." 

"We have to fix those cars and we have to prevent this from ever happening again," Horn added. "We have to make things right with everyone." 

"We will do what we have to do and pay what we have to pay."

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency: Cars with Volkswagen's EA189-series 2-liter TDI turbo-diesel four-cylinder engines features software that detects when the car is undergoing emissions testing and turns on a suite of pollution-control systems.

But as soon as the test ends, the controls switch off, leaving the engine free to emit up to 40 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxide, a highly polluting gas. According to the California Air Resources Board, Volkswagen admitted to using a defeat device during a September 3, 2015 meeting with the agency and the EPA.

In September, the California Air Resources Board and the EPA both issued notices of violation to Volkswagen Group concerning nearly 500,000 2.0-liter TDI diesel-powered vehicles sold in the US from 2009 and 2015.

The scandal eventually spread around the world — affecting more than 11 million cars. The scandal — dubbed "dieselgate" — led to the dismissal of VW CEO Martin Winterkorn, as well as several high-ranking engineers.

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