Dealing with the consequences in the United States takes precedence over all other considerations, said a manager of European funds among the 20 largest shareholders in Volkswagen.
"Then we have to talk about strategic direction," said the fund manager, adding that VW could review its commitment to diesel consumption due to a likely and regulatory backlash. "This scandal has given them the opportunity to consider where to go with its portfolio of models."
Mueller should go further and leave the United States altogether diesel vehicles, said Bernstein analyst Max Warburton, recommending that the cash funnel company in plug-in hybrids and other low-emission technologies in place.
"VW has to think big and bold," he said.
Another big challenge for Mueller moves by a sharp slowdown in China, where VW bumper profits have until recently more than compensate for its poor performance in Europe.
Many connoisseurs are calling for a change in corporate culture. Centralizing under Winterkorn and VW Ferdinand Piech - deposed as president in April - it was ill-suited to an empire of 12 brands with 119 plants in 31 countries.
"The climate of fear"
The "climate of fear" may have been a factor in the trial of handling, an official of the company, as it was two years ago when complaints of Chinese customers on the boxes of damaged gears for months were deleted said.
"We must create an atmosphere in which problems can be openly communicated to higher rather than hide," chief labor Berndt told staff Osterloh Thursday.
The deception of emissions and their consequences are also expanding beyond North America. The German Transport Ministry said VW had also manipulated the evidence in Europe, with 2.8 million vehicles affected in Germany.
The most affected in terms of reputation will be the VW brand itself, which are already struggling to find 5 billion euros in savings and lift profitability has fallen behind rivals such as Renault and PSA / Peugeot-Citroen.
Under new boss Herbert Diess, the division had promised the first 1 billion in cuts this year, a goal reiterated three days before the emergence of diesel deception in an investor presentation entitled "The stability in volatile times. "
Narrow margins
The humiliation of VW could weaken its European prices, eroding even narrower margins of the center mark and still require major cuts in unions.
"The [US] revelations can have a negative impact on the ability of VW to maintain its global power premium prices," said Morgan Stanley analyst Harald Hendrikse in a note this week.
To limit the damage, distributors are already urging VW to improve their communication with customers baffled. Sales staff said they were "getting a lot of phone calls" from customers, but the silence of the home of Wolfsburg.
A dealer in Cologne said he was eager to regain some 2,000 vehicles for illegal software engine to be neutralized, generating EUR 1.5 million in service revenues, as well as opportunities to repair relations with customers - or even sell a few more cars .
"It is a difficult market and do not mind the extra business," he said, "so terrible as it is to the brand."
But no silver linings seem paper thin VW 593,000 employees worldwide - nearly half of whom are in Germany.
A groundsman articulate his confusion as he cut the grass in Wolfsburg on Friday morning. "I just do not understand why VW did this," he said.
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