Volkswagen Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn announced his resignation Wednesday, just a day after the company admitted that it had evaded pollution tests in 11 million of its cars. Though Winterkorn had initially refused to resign, only issuing an apology, he ultimately stepped down and accepted the "responsibility for the irregularities that have been found in diesel engines."
In a statement, Winterkorn maintained that he was "not aware of any wrongdoing on [his] part" but said that he was "stunned that misconduct on such scale was possible in the Volkswagen Group." The company will reportedly have to set aside $7.3 billion to deal with the issue.
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