Volkswagen USA boss Michael Horn, who famously went on stage just days after the dieselgate scandal blew up to admit "we totally screwed up", has left the company with immediate effect "to pursue other opportunities."

An official VW statement quoted global brand CEO Herbert Diess as saying that Horn "showed exemplary leadership during difficult times for the brand”. It was not specified if Horn, who joined VW in 1990 and took over the leadership of VW USA in 2014, had another job to go to.

"During his time in the US Michael Horn built up a strong relationship with our national dealer body and showed exemplary leadership during difficult times for the brand," added Diess.

VW USA Chairman Hinrich Woebcken will take over the CEO job on an interim basis.

It is now six months since VW admitted installing software on its diesel cars to cheat US emissions tests. To date, the firm has not come to an agreement with regulators as to how to fix the 580,000 cars affected by the scandal in the US, with the threat of the firm having to buy back all the affected cars becoming increasingly likely.

Jim Holder (Autocar UK)