大衆首席執行官文德恩辭職事件

Martin Winterkorn stepped down as chief executive of Volkswagen, bowing to Mounting pressure over an emissions scandal that has wiped more than 30 per cent off the company’s share price since Monday and sent tremors through the European car industry.

迫於不斷增加的排放醜聞壓力，文德恩(Martin Winterkorn)辭去了大衆汽車(Volkswagen)首席執行官一職。自週一以來，這場醜聞令大衆股價蒸發了30%以上，還震撼了歐洲汽車業。

“Volkswagen needs a fresh start,” Mr Winterkorn said in a statement. “I am clearing the way for this with my resignation.” He said he was standing down “in the interests of the company, although I am not aware of any wrongdoing on my part”.

文德恩在一份聲明中表示：“大衆需要一個新的開始。我將以辭職來爲此掃清障礙。”文德恩表示自己的退出是“爲了公司的利益，儘管我不知道自己的行爲有任何不當之處。”

The highest paid boss at a listed German company, Mr Winterkorn, 68, was credited with turning Volkswagen into a global giant that rivalled Toyota and General Motors. But he was ultimately confounded by the worst scandal in the company’s 78-year history.

現年68歲的文德恩是薪酬最高的德國上市企業老闆，曾被譽爲將大衆轉變成了一家可與豐田(Toyota)和通用汽車(General Motors)匹敵的全球巨頭。但最終他被這樁大衆78年曆史上最糟糕的醜聞搞得狼狽不堪。

VW has been reeling ever since the US Environmental Protection Agency revealed that the company had fitted its diesel vehicles with software that could be used to manipulate emissions tests, and demanded the recall of nearly 500,000 VW cars.

自從美國國家環境保護局(Environmental Protection Agency)揭露大衆在柴油車上安裝了可以用來操縱排放測試的軟件、並要求召回近50萬輛大衆汽車以來，該公司一直處於震驚狀態。

The carmaker later announced that up to 11m of its vehicles worldwide could be affected and said it had set aide 6.5bn to cover potential costs.

這家汽車製造商隨後宣佈，全球而言可能有多達1100萬輛大衆汽車受影響，並表示已預留65億歐元用於覆蓋潛在成本。

The scandal reverberated across the global car industry, dragging down the shares of US, French and German carmakers and raising questions about the future of diesel technology.

這一醜聞在全球汽車業引發衝擊波，拖累了美國、法國和德國汽車製造商的股票，並對柴油技術的未來提出質疑。

Yesterday, prosecutors in Lower Saxony, the German state where VW is based, said they were weighing a preliminary investigation into certain employees at the company.

昨天，大衆總部所在的德國下薩克森州的檢察官表示，他們在考慮對該公司某些僱員展開初步調查。