VW needs an outsider to fix it

London

VOLKSWAGEN needs a new chairman. In early September, Europe's largest carmaker named long-term finance chief Hans Dieter Poetsch as successor to Ferdinand Piech, the patriarch of VW's controlling family. Mr Poetsch was already a questionable choice. The emissions cheating scandal that unseated Martin Winterkorn as chief executive on Sept 23 makes his appointment untenable.

Mr Poetsch may not have been aware that his employer used special software to game regulatory emissions tests. After all, he dealt with spreadsheets in his 12 years running VW's finances, not diesels. The inevitable storm of fines, damages and recall costs that will now hit the auto giant makes a well-seasoned, respected finance expert an asset.